Communication Theories [PDF]

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A First Look at COMMUNICATION THEORY By Em Griffin

Interpersonal Communication: Interpersonal Messages Symbolic Interactionism (Chapter 5) Humans act toward people, things, and events on the basis of the meanings they assign to them. Once people define a situation as real, it has very real consequences. Without language there would be no thought, no sense of self, and no socializing presence of society within the individual. (Socio-cultural tradition) Coordinated Management of Meaning (Chapter 6) Persons-in-conversation co-construct their own social realities and are simultaneously shaped by the worlds they create. They can achieve coherence through common interpretation of their stories told. They can achieve coordination by meshing their stories lived. Dialogic communication, which is learnable, teachable, and contagious, improves the quality of life for everyone. (Socio-cultural and phenomenological traditions) Expectancy Violations Theory (Chapter 7) Violating another person's interpersonal expectations can be a superior strategy to conformity. When the meaning of a violation is ambiguous, communicators with a high reward valence can enhance their attractiveness, credibility, and persuasiveness by doing the unexpected. When the violation valence or reward is negative, they should act in a socially appropriate way. (Socio-pyschological tradition) Constructivism (Chapter 8) Individuals who are more cognitively complex in their perceptions of others have the mental capacity to construct sophisticated message plans that pursue multiple goals. They then have the ability to deliver person-centered messages that achieve the outcomes they desire. (Sociopsychological and rhetorical traditions)

Interpersonal Communication: Relationship Development Social Penetration Theory (Chapter 9) Interpersonal closeness proceeds in a gradual and orderly fashion from superficial to intimate levels of exchange as a function of anticipated present and future outcomes. Lasting intimacy requires continual and mutual vulnerability through breadth and depth of self-disclosure. (Socio-psychological tradition)

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Uncertainty Reduction Theory (Chapter 10) When people meet, their primary concern is to reduce uncertainty about each other and their relationship. As verbal output, nonverbal warmth, self-disclosure, similarity, and shared communication networks increase uncertainty decreases—and vice versa. Information seeking and reciprocity are positively correlated with uncertainty. (Socio-psychological tradition) Social Information Processing Theory (Chapter 11) Based solely on he linguistic content of computer-mediated communiction (CMC), parties who meet online can develop relationships just as close as those formed face-to-face—thogh it takes longer. Because online senders select, receivers magnify, channels promote, and feedback enhances favorable impressions, CMC may create hyperpersonal relatonships. (Socio-psychological tradition)

Interpersonal Communication: Relationship Maintenance Relational Dialectics (Chapter 12) Social life is a dynamic knot of contradictions, a ceaseless interplay between contradictory or opposing tendencies such as integration-separation, stability-change, and expressionnonexpression. Quality relationships are constituted through dialogue, which is an aesthetic accomplishment that produces fleeting moments of unity through a profound respect for the disparate voices. (Phenomenological tradition) The Interactional View (Chapter 13) Relationships within a family system are interconnected and highly resistant to change. Communication among members has a content component and a relationship component that centers on issues of control. The system can be transformed only when members receive outside help to reframe their metacommunication. (Cybernetics tradition)

Interpersonal Communication: Influence Social Judgment Theory (Chapter 14) The larger the discrepancy between a speaker's position and a listener's point of view, the greater the change in attitude—as long as the message is within the hearer's latitude of acceptance. High ego-involvement usually indicates a wide latitude of rejection. Messages that fall there may have a boomerang effect. (Socio-psychological tradition) Elaboration Likelihood Model (Chapter 15)

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Message elaboration is the central route of persuasion that produces major positive attitude change. It occurs when unbiased listeners are motivated and able to scrutinize arguments that they consider strong. Message-irrelevant factors hold sway on the peripheral path, a more common route that produces fragile shifts in attitude. (Socio-psychological tradition) Cognitive Dissonance (Chapter 16) Cognitive dissonance is an aversive drive that causes people to (1) avoid opposing viewpoints, (2) seek reassurance after making a tough decision, and (3)change private beliefs to match public behavior when there is minimal justification for an action. Self-consistency, a sense of personal responsibility, or self-affirmation can explain dissonance reduction. (Sociopsychological tradition)

Group and Public Communication: Group Decision Making Symbolic Convergence Theory (Chapter 3) Sharing common fantasies transforms a collection of individuals into a cohesive group. Symbolic convergence occurs when group members spontaneously create fantasy chains that display an energized, unified response to common themes. A fantasy theme analysis across groups can reveal a rhetorical vision that contains motives to enact the joint fantasy. (Rhetorical and socio-psychological traditions) NOTE: Bormann‟s theory is used as a case study in Division One (Overview) of the text. Otherwise, it would appear in Divsion Three, Group and Public Communication.

Functional Perspective on Group Decision Making (Chapter 17) Groups make high-quality decisions when members fulfill four requisite functions: (1) problem analysis, (2) goal setting, (3) identification of alternatives, and (4) evaluation of positive and negative consequences. Most group communication disrupts progress toward accomplishing these functional tasks, but counteractive communication can bring people back to rational inquiry. (Socio-psychological and cybernetic traditions) Adaptive Structuration Theory (Chapter 18) Structuration is the production and reproduction of social systems by people's use of rules and resources in interaction. Communication matters when groups make decisions. Quality of structure means that rules and resources members use will affect decisions, and in turn those structures will be affected by those decisions. (Socio-cultural and cybernetic traditions)

Group and Public Communication: Organizational Communication Cultural Approach to Organizations (Chapter 19)

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Humans are animals suspended in webs of significance that they themselves have spun. An organization doesn't have a culture, it is a culture—a unique system of shared meanings. A nonintrusive ethnographic approach interprets stories, rites, and other symbolism to make sense of corporate culture. (Socio-cultural tradition)

Critical Theory of Communication in Organizations (Chapter 20) The naïve notion that communication is merely the transmission of information perpetuates managerialism, discursive closure, and the corporate colonization of everyday life. Language is the principal medium through which social reality is produced and reproduced. Managers can further a company's health and democratic values by coordinating stakeholder participation in corporate decisions. (Critical and phenomenological traditions)

Group and Public Communication: Public Rhetoric The Rhetoric (Chapter 21) Rhetoric is the art of discovering all available means of persuasion. A speaker supports that probability of a message by logical, ethical, and emotional proofs. Accurate audience analysis results in effective invention; arrangement; style; delivery; and, presumably, memory. (Rhetorical tradition) Dramatism (Chapter 22) Life is drama. The dramatistic pentad of act, scene, agent, agency, and purpose is the critic's tool to discover a speaker's motive. The ultimate motive of rhetoric is the purging of guilt. Without audience identification with the speaker, there is no persuasion. (Rhetorical and semiotic traditions) Narrative Paradigm (Chapter 23) People are storytelling animals; almost all forms of human communication are fundamentally narrative. Listeners judge a story by whether it hangs together and rings true with the values of an ideal audience. Thus, narrative rationality is a matter of coherence and fidelity. (Rhetorical tradition)

Mass Communication: Media and Culture Media Ecology (Chapter 24) The media must be understood ecologically. Changes in communication technology alter the symbolic environment—the socially constructed, sensory world of meanings. We shaped our

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tools—the phonetic alphabet, printing press, and telegraph—and they in turn have shaped our perceptions, experiences, attitudes, and behavior. Thus the medium is the message. (Sociocultural tradition) Semiotics (Chapter 25) The significant visual sign systems of a culture affirm the status quo by suggesting that the world as it is today is natural, inevitable, and eternal. Mythmakers do this by co-opting neutral denotative signs to become signifiers without historical grounding in second-order connotative semiotic systems. (Semiotic tradition).

Cultural Studies (Chapter 26) The mass media function to maintain the ideology of those who already have power. Corporately controlled media provide the dominant discourse of the day that frames interpretation of events. Critics should seek not only to interpret culture, but to change it. Media audiences do have the capacity to resist hegemonic influence. (Critical tradition)

Mass Communication: Media Effects Cultivation Theory (Chapter 27) Television has become society's storyteller. Heavy television viewers see a vast quantity of dramatic violence, which cultivates an exaggerated belief in a mean and scary world. Mainstreaming and resonance are two of the processes that create a homogeneous and fearful populace. (Socio-cultural and socio-psychological traditions) Agenda Setting Theory (Chapter 28) The media tell us (1) what to think about, and (2) how to think about it. The first process (agenda setting) transfers the salience of items on their news agenda to our agenda. The second process (framing) transfers the salience of selected attributes to prominence among the pictures in our heads. (Socio-psychological tradition) Spiral of Silence (Chapter 29) People live in perpetual fear of isolating themselves and carefully monitor public opinion to see which views are acceptable. When their opinions appear out of favor, they keep silent. Television's constant repetition of a single point of view biases perception of public opinion and accelerates the spiral of silence. (Socio-psychological tradition)

Cultural Context: Intercultural Communication Communication Accommodation Theory (Chapter 30)

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People in intercultural encounters who see themselves as unique individuals will adjust their speech style and content to mesh with others whose approval they seek. People who want to reinforce a strong group identification will interact with those outside the group in a way that accentuates their differences. (Socio-psychological tradition) Face Negotiation Theory (Chapter 31) People from collectivistic cultures with an interdependent self-image are concerned with giving other-face or mutual face, so they adopt a conflict style of avoiding or integrating. People from individualistic cultures with an independent self-image are concerned with protecting self-face, so they adopt a conflict style of dominating. (Socio-cultural and socio-psychological traditions) Speech Codes Theory (Chapter 32) Through ethnography of communication we know all cultures have multiple speech codes that involve a distinctive psychology, sociology, and rhetoric. The meaning of a speech code is determined by speakers and listeners, and is woven into speech itself. Artful use of the code can explain, predict, and control talk about talk. (Socio-cultural tradition)

Cultural Context: Gender and Communication Genderlect Styles (Chapter 33) Male-female conversation is cross-cultural communication. Masculine and feminine styles of discourse are best viewed as two distinct cultural dialects rather than as inferior or superior ways of speaking. Men's report talk focuses on status and independence; women's rapport talk seeks human connection. (Semiotic and socio-cultural traditions) Standpoint Theory (Chapter 34) Different locations within the social hierarchy affect what is seen. The standpoints of marginalized people provide less false views of the world than do the privileged perspectives of the powerful. Strong objectivity requires that scientific research start from the lives of women, the poor, gays and lesbians, and racial minorities. (Critical tradition) Muted Group Theory (Chapter 35) Man-made language aids in defining, depreciating, and excluding women. Women are less articulate in public because the words and the norms they use have been devised by men. As women cease to be muted, men will no longer maintain their position of dominance in society. (Critical phenomenological traditions)

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Chapter Outline Launching Your Study of Communication Theory (Chapter 1) I.

What is a theory and what does it do? A. Ernest Bormann defined theory as “an umbrella term for all careful, systematic, and self-conscious discussion and analysis of communication phenomena.” B. This definition is purposefully broad, but may not be helpful in providing a direction for study. C. Judee Burgoon suggested that a theory is nothing more than “a set of systemic hunches about the way things operate.” 1. Set of hunches. a. If a theory is a set of hunches, it means we aren‟t yet sure we have the answer. b. Theories always involve an element of speculation or conjecture. c. A theory is not just one inspired thought or an isolated idea. d. A theory offers some sort of explanation. e. A theory offers some indication of scope. 2. Informed hunches. a. A theorist‟s hunches should be informed. b. A theorist has a responsibility to check it out. c. A theorist should be familiar with alternate explanations and interpretations. 3. Hunches that are systematic. a. A theory is an integrated system of concepts, laying out both relevant terms and their relationship to one another. b. A theory ties together ideas into a unified whole. 4. Images of theory a. Theory might also be understood using descriptive metaphors. b. Karl Popper described theories as nets, a tool used to grasp an elusive concept. c. Theories can be seen as lenses that help focus attention. d. Theories serve as maps, guiding us through unfamiliar territory.

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What is communication? A. No singular definition of communication is agreed upon by communication scholars. B. Frank Dance, who published the first comprehensive book on communication theory, concluded that we‟re “trying to make the concept of communication do too much work for us.” C. Communication is the relational process of creating and interpreting messages that elicit a response. 1. Messages are at the core of communication study. a. Communication theories deal specifically with messages. b. The term text is synonymous with a message. 2. Communicators usually make conscious choices about a message‟s form and substance. 3. Messages are symbolically encoded and decoded by people based on the meanings they assign. 4. Communication is an on-going relational process between two or more people, which both affects their interpretation of the messages as well as the nature of the connection between the people. 5. Communication has an effect upon the people who receive it, provoking or eliciting a response. An arrangement of ideas to aid comprehension. A. The arrangement of the book‟s chapters is explained. B. The 31 theory chapters are divided into four major divisions: interpersonal communication, group and public communication, mass communication, and cultural context.

Talk About Theory (Chapter 2) I.

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Introduction. A. Theorists grounded in behavioral science approach communication using the scientific method. B. Theorists grounded in the humanities approach communication through interpreting texts. C. Communication theories reflect a variety of methodological approaches, desired outcomes or goals, and levels of investigation. Objective or interpretive: a difference that makes a difference. A. The objective approach and the interpretative approach to communication study differ in starting point, method, and conclusion. B. Scholars who do objective study are scientists. C. Scholars who do interpretive study are concerned with meaning and reflect a range of ideological and methodological positions. As a result, there is no single unifying or accepted label though Griffin uses the term “interpretive scholars.” D. Objective and interpretive scholars are passionately committed to their approaches. E. Readers will benefit from understanding the distinction between the approaches. Ways of knowing: discovering truth or creating multiple realities?

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Epistemology is the study of the nature of knowledge. Scientists assume that truth is singular. 1. Reality is accessible through our senses. 2. Collectively, scientists can understand the world. 3. Good theories are mirrors of nature, true as long as conditions remain the same. C. Interpretive scholars also seek truth, but they are more tentative about the possibility of revealing objective reality. 1. Truth is largely subjective; meaning is highly interpretive. 2. The knower cannot be separated from the known. 3. Multiple meanings are acceptable. 4. Successful interpretations are those that convince others. Human nature: determinism or free will. A. Determinists argue that heredity and environment determine behavior. 1. Scientists favor this stance. 2. They stress behavior shaped by forces beyond our control or individual awareness. 3. Behavior is the response to a prior stimulus. B. Free will proponents maintain that human behavior is ultimately voluntary. 1. Interpretive scholars endorse this position. 2. They focus on conscious choices of individuals, not on why choices are made. 3. They believe that significant decisions are value laden. C. As individual freedom increases, predictability of behavior decreases. The highest value: objectivity or emancipation? A. Social scientists value objectivity; personal values should not distort human reality. B. Interpretive scholars seek to expand the range of free choice; knowledge is never neutral. C. Scientists seek effectiveness; interpreters focus on participation. The purpose of theory: universal laws or guides for interpretation? A. Scientists seek universal laws; interpreters strive to interpret individual texts. B. Scientists test theories; interpreters explore the web of meaning constituting human existence. C. Scientists seek prediction; interpretive scholars strive for meaning. Methods: quantitative or qualitative? A. Scientists favor quantifiable experiments and surveys. 1. Through experiments, scientists seek to establish a cause-and-effect relationship by manipulating an independent variable in a tightly controlled situation in order to determine its effect on a dependent variable. Results are measured. 2. Surveys rely on self-report data to discover who people are and what they think, feel, and intend to do. 3. It is difficult to support cause-and-effect relations with surveys, but survey data more closely resemble “real life” than experimentation does. B. Interpretive scholars use qualitative textual analysis and ethnography.

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Textual analyses describe and interpret messages. Increasingly, textual analyses expose and publicly resist dominant social ideologies. 3. Through ethnography, participant-observers experience a culture's web of meaning. Objective and interpretive labels anchor end of a continuum, with many theories in between.

Mapping the Territory (Chapter 4) I.

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Introduction. A. Communication scholars hold widely divergent views as to what communication is. B. Robert Craig suggests that communication should be viewed as a practical discipline; theory is developed to solve real world problems. C. Craig identifies seven established traditions of communication theory. The socio-psychological tradition—communication as interpersonal influence. A. This tradition epitomizes the scientific perspective. B. Carl Hovland was one of the founding fathers of experimental research on the effects of communication. C. Hovland‟s Yale team studied the relationships among communication stimuli, audience predisposition, and opinion change. D. They explored three separate causes of persuasive variation. 1. Who—the source of the message. 2. What—the content of the message. 3. Whom—the audience characteristics. E. Hovland and his colleagues discovered that source credibility is vital to opinion shift. 1. They investigated two types of credibility—expertness and character. 2. Expertness was more important for boosting opinion change, but its effect didn‟t last. The cybernetic tradition—communication as information processing. A. Norbert Wiener coined the term cybernetics to describe the field of artificial intelligence. 1. Wiener‟s concept of feedback anchored the cybernetic tradition. 2. Communication is the link separating the separate parts of any system. B. Claude Shannon established the idea of communication as information processing. 1. Shannon‟s goal was to establish maximal line capacity with minimum distortion. 2. He had little interest in the meaning of a message. C. Shannon defined information as the reduction of uncertainty. 1. The less predictable a message, the more information it carries. 2. Noise reduces the information-carrying capacity of the channel. D. Shannon regarded communication as the science of balancing predictability and uncertainty.

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Paired with Warren Weaver‟s essay, Shannon‟s diagram of information flow appears in many communication textbooks. F. Although Weaver didn‟t include feedback, other cybernetic theorists added it to the model. The rhetorical tradition—communication as artful public address. A. Greco-Roman rhetoric was the main communication theory until the twentieth century. B. Six features characterize the tradition. 1. A conviction that speech distinguishes humans from other animals. 2. A confidence in the efficacy of public address. 3. A setting of one speaker addressing a large audience with the intention to persuade. 4. Oratorical training as the cornerstone of a leader‟s education. 5. An emphasis on the power and beauty of language to move people emotionally and stir them to action. 6. Rhetoric was the province of males. C. There exists an ongoing tension between the relative value of theory and practice in the education of speakers. The semiotic tradition—communication as the process of sharing meaning through signs. A. Semiotics is the study of signs. B. Words are a special kind of sign known as a symbol. 1. I. A. Richards was an early scholar of semiotics. 2. His “proper meaning superstition” identifies the mistaken belief that words have a precise meaning. C. Meanings don‟t reside in words or other symbols, but in people. D. C. K. Ogden and Richards‟ semantic triangle demonstrates the indirect relationship between a symbol and its referent. E. Although Richards and Ferdinand de Saussure were fascinated with language, many in the semiotic tradition focus on nonverbal communication. The socio-cultural tradition—communication as the creation and enactment of social reality. A. Communication produces and reproduces culture. B. Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf pioneered this tradition. 1. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis of linguistic relativity states that the structure of a culture‟s language shapes what people think and do. 2. Their theory counters the notion that languages are neutral conduits of meaning. C. It is through language that reality is produced, maintained, repaired, and transformed. The critical tradition—communication as a reflective challenge of unjust discourse. A. Critical theory derives from the German Frankfurt School. B. The Frankfurt School rejected Karl Marx‟s economic determinism, but embraced the Marxist tradition of critiquing society. C. The leaders of the School argued that all previous history has been characterized by an unjust distribution of suffering. E.

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Critical theorists challenge three features of contemporary society. 1. The control of language to perpetuate power imbalances. 2. The role of mass media in dulling sensitivity to repression. 3. Blind reliance on the scientific method and uncritical acceptance of empirical findings. E. Critical theorists share a common ethical agenda that emphasizes solidarity with suffering human beings. The phenomenological tradition—communication as the experience of self and others through dialogue. A. Phenomenology refers to the intentional analysis of everyday life from the standpoint of the person who is living it. B. The phenomenological tradition places great emphasis on people‟s perceptions and interpretations of their own subjective experiences. C. Within the context of therapy, Carl Rogers established three conditions for personality and relationship change. 1. Congruence—the match between an individual‟s inner feelings and outer display. 2. Unconditional positive regard—an attitude of acceptance that isn‟t contingent on performance. 3. Empathic understanding—the caring skill of entering into another‟s world without prejudice. D. Rogers believed that his criteria applied to all interpersonal relationships. E. Martin Buber emphasized authentic human relationships through dialogue.

Interpersonal Communication: Interpersonal Messages Symbolic Interactionism (Chapter 5) I.

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Introduction. A. George Herbert Mead was an influential philosophy professor at the University of Chicago, but he never published his ideas. B. After his death, his students published his teachings in Mind, Self, and Society. C. Mead's chief disciple, Herbert Blumer, further developed his theory. 1. Blumer coined the term symbolic interactionism, and claimed that communication is the most human and humanizing activity in which people are engaged. 2. The three core principles of symbolic interactionism are concerned with meaning, language, and thought. 3. These principles lead to conclusions about the formation of self and socialization into a larger community. Meaning: The construction of social reality. A. First principle: Humans act toward people or things on the basis of the meanings they assign to those people or things. B. Once people define a situation as real, it's very real in its consequences Language: The source of meaning A. Meaning arises out of the social interaction people have with each other.

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Meaning is not inherent in objects. Meaning is negotiated through the use of language, hence the term symbolic interactionism. 1. Second principle: As human beings, we have the ability to name things. 2. Symbols, including names, are arbitrary signs. 3. By talking with others, we ascribe meaning to words and develop a universe of discourse. D. Symbolic naming is the basis for societythe extent of knowing is dependent on the extent of naming. E. Symbolic interactionism is the way we learn to interpret the world. 1. A symbol is a stimulus that has a learned meaning and a value for people. 2. Our words have default assumptions. Thought: The process of taking the role of the other. A. Third principle: An individual's interpretation of symbols is modified by his or her own thought process. B. Symbolic interactionists describe thinking as an inner conversation, or minding. 1. Minding is a reflective pause. 2. We naturally talk to ourselves in order to sort out meaning. C. Whereas animals act instinctively and without deliberation, humans are hardwired for thought. 1. Humans require social stimulation and exposure to abstract symbol systems to have conceptual thought. 2. Language is the software that activates the mind. D. Humans have the unique capacity to take the role of the other. The self: Reflections in a looking-glass. A. Self cannot be found through introspection, but instead through taking the role of the other and imaging how we look from the other‟s perspective. This mental image is called the looking-glass self and is socially constructed. B. Self is a function of language. 1. One has to be a member of a community before consciousness of self sets in. 2. The self is always in flux. C. Self is an ongoing process combining the “I” and the “me”. 1. The “I” sponsors what is novel, unpredictable, and unorganizes about the self. 2. The “me” is the image of self seen through the looking-glass of other people's reactionsis the image of self seen through the looking-glass of other people's reactions. Community: The socializing effect of others' expectations. A. The composite mental image of others in a community, their expectations, and possible responses is referred to as the generalized other. B. The generalized other shapes how we think and interact with the community. C. The “me” is formed through continual symbolic interaction. D. The “me” is the organized community within the individual. A sampler of applied symbolic interaction. A. Creating reality.

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Erving Goffman develops the metaphor of social interaction as a dramaturgical performance. 2. The impression of reality fostered by performance is fragile. B. Meaning-ful research. 1. Mead advocated study through participant observation, a form of ethnography. 2. Experimental and survey research are void of the meaning of the experience. C. Generalized otherthe tragic potential of symbolic interaction: Negative responses can consequently reduce a person to nothing. D. Naming. 1. Name-calling can be devastating because it forces us to view ourselves through a warped mirror. 2. These grotesque images are not easily dispelled. E. Self-fulfilling prophecy. 1. Each of us affects how others view themselves. 2. Our expectations evoke responses that confirm what we originally anticipated, resulting in a self-fulfilling prophecy. F. Symbol manipulationsymbols can galvanize people into united action. Critique: A theory too grand? A. Mead's theory is hard to summarize and lacks clarity. B. Mead overstates his case, particularly when distinguishing humans from other animals. C. Nonetheless, Mead's theory has greater breadth than any in this book. D. Most interpretive theorists featured in this book owe a great debt to Mead.

Coordinated Management of Meaning (Chapter 6) I.

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Introduction. A. Barnett Pierce and Vernon Cronen hold that the quality of our personal lives and of our social worlds is directly related to the quality of communication in which we engage. B. Their theory, coordinated management of meaning (CMM), is based on the assertion that persons-in-conversation co-construct their own social realities and are simultaneously shaped by the worlds they create. C. They present CMM as a practical theory designed to improve life. D. Instead of seeking truth claims, they seek to help real people enhance their understanding and act more effectively. CMM in action: Stories from the field. A. Mediation. B. Family therapy. C. Cupertino Community Project. Persons-in-conversation: Creating bonds of union. A. As social constructionists, CMM users believe that the social world is not found or discovered, but created.

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The experience of persons-in-conversation is the primary social process of human life. C. The way people communicate is often more important than the content of what they say. D. The actions of persons-in-conversation are reflexively reproduced as the interaction continues. 1. Reflectivity means that our actions have effects that bounce back and affect us. 2. Pearce and Cronen are social ecologists who raise questions about the long-term effects of our communicative practices. E. As social constructionists, CMM researchers see themselves as curious participants in a pluralistic world. 1. They are curious rather than certain. 2. They are participants rather than spectators. 3. They live in pluralist worlds rather than seek a singular Truth. 4. They advocate community-based action research, a collaborative approach to investigation that seeks to engage community members as equal and full participants in the research process. Stories told and stories lived. A. CMM theorists distinguish between stories lived and stories told. 1. Stories lived are the co-constructed actions we perform with others. 2. Coordination takes place when we fit our stories lived into the stories lived by others in a way that makes life better. 3. Stories told are the narratives that we use to make sense of our stories lived. 4. The management of meaning involves the adjustment of our stories told to fit the reality of stories lived—or vice versa. B. Making and managing meaning through stories told. 1. The hierarchy model shows that all four contexts interact with every speech act. a. An episode is a communication routine that has boundaries and rules. b. A relationship between persons-in-conversation suggests how a speech act might be interpreted. c. Identity addresses how the story might affect and be affected by one‟s self-concept. d. Culture describes webs of shared meanings and values. 2. The contexts of episode, relationship, identity, and culture rarely have equal importance. 3. The key to interpretation is to determine which context dominates a particular conversation. 4. The serpentine model suggests that in interpersonal communication, both parties affect—and are affected by—each other. C. Coordination—the meshing of stories lived.

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Coordination is the process by which persons collaborate in an attempt to bring into being their vision of what is necessary, noble, and good and to preclude the enactment of what they fear, hate, or despise. 2. Coordination is possible without sharing a common interpretation. 3. CMM advocates want to function as peacemakers. Cosmopolitan Communication: Disagree, yet coordinate. A. Pearce has used a variety of terms to describe communication he values. 1. Cosmopolitan communicators seek ways of coordinating with others with whom they do not agree. 2. Dialogic communication means speaking in a way that makes it possible for others to listen, and listening in a way that makes it possible for others to speak. B. Communicating dialogically involves an equal concern for ones own identity and for the relationship between communicators. Ethical reflection: Martin Buber‟s Dialogic Ethics A. Buber, a German Jewish philosopher, focused his ethical approach on the relationship between people rather than on moral codes of conduct B. He contrasted two types of relationships—I-It versus I-Thou. 1. I-It treats the other person as an object to be manipulated 2. I-Thou treats our partner as the very one we are. Critique: A keen interpretation that‟s hard to grasp A. In almost every way, CMM meets the standards of a good interpretative theory. B. Despite meeting the four standards with ease, lack of clarity has seriously limited CMM‟s aesthetic appeal. C. CMM is the most comprehensive statement of social construction crafted by communication scholars.

Expectancy Violations Theory (Chapter 7) I.

Personal space expectations: conform or deviate? A. Judee Burgoon defines personal space as the invisible, variable volume of space surrounding an individual that defines that individual's preferred distance from others. 1. The size and shape of our personal space depends upon cultural norms and individual preferences. 2. Personal space is always a compromise between the conflicting approach-avoidance needs that we as humans have for affiliation and privacy. B. Edward Hall coined the term proxemics to refer to the study of people's use of space as a special elaboration of culture. 1. He believed that most spatial interpretation is outside our awareness. 2. He believed that Americans have four proxemic zones. a. Intimate distance: 0 to 18 inches. b. Personal distance: 18 inches to 4 feet. c. Social distance: 4 to 10 feet. d. Public distance: 10 feet to infinity.

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He maintained that effective communicators adjust their nonverbal behavior to conform to the communicative rules of their partners. C. Burgoon suggests that, under some circumstances, violating social norms and personal expectations is a superior strategy to conformity. An applied test of the original model. A. According to Burgoon's early model, crossing over the threat thresholdthat forms the boundary of the intimate distance causes physical and psychological discomfort. B. Noticeable deviations from what we expect cause a heightened state of arousal and spur us to review the nature of our relationship with a person. C. A person with punishing power should observe proxemic conventions or stand slightly farther away than expected. D. An attractive communicator benefits from a close approach. E. Burgoon's original theory was not supported by her research, but she has continued to refine her approach to expectancy violations. A convoluted model becomes an elegant theory. A. Burgoon dropped the concept of the threat threshold. B. She has substituted an orienting response or a mental alertness for arousal. C. Arousal is no longer a necessary link between expectancy violation and communication outcomes such as attraction, credibility, persuasion, and involvement, but rather a side effect of a partner‟s deviation. D. She has dropped the qualifier nonverbalbecause she believes the principles of EVT apply to verbal interaction as well. Core concepts of EVT (expectancy violations theory). A. EVT offers a soft determinism rather than hard-core universal laws. B. Burgoon does, however, hope to link surprising interpersonal behavior and attraction, credibility, influence, and involvement. C. Expectancy. 1. Expectancy is what is predicted to occur rather than what is desired. 2. Expectancy is based on context, relationship, and communicator characteristics. 3. Burgoon believes that all cultures have a similar structure of expected communication behavior, but that the content of those expectations differs from culture to culture. D. Violation valence. 1. The violation valence is the positive or negative value we place on the unexpected behavior, regardless of who does it. 2. If the valence is negative, do less than expected. 3. If the valence is positive, do more than expected. 4. Although the meanings of most violations can be determined from context, some nonverbal expectancy violations are truly ambiguous. 5. For equivocal violations, one must refer to the communicator reward valence. E. Communicator reward valence.

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The communicator reward valence is the sum of the positive and negative attributes that the person brings to the encounter plus the potential he or she has to reward or punish in the future. 2. Puzzling violations force victims to search the social context for clues to their meaning and thats when communication reward valence comes into play. Interactional Adaptation—Adjusting Expectations A. EVT has been used to explain and predict attitudes and behaviors in a wide variety of communication contexts. B. Paul Mongeau studied men and womens expectations for first dates and compares those expectations with their actual experiences. C. Burgoon has also re-assessed EVTs single-sided view and now favors a dyadic model of interactional adaptation. 1. Interactional adaptation theory is an extension and expansion of EVT 2. Interactional position encompasses three factors: a. Requirements: outcomes we all need to fulfill our basic needs to survive, be safe, belong, and have sense of self worth b. Expectations: what we think really will happen c. Desire: what we personally would like to see happen. D. Burgoon outlined two shortcomings of EVT. 1. EVT does not fully account for the overwhelming prevalence of reciprocity that has been found in interpersonal interactions 2. It is silent on whether communication valence supersedes behavior valence or vice versa when the two are incongruent. E. Interactional Adaptation theory is her attempt to address these problems. Critique: A well-regarded work in progress A. Burgoon seeks to adjust and redesign an expectancy model that never quite works in practice as well as the theoretical blueprint says it should. B. Despite problems, Burgoon's theory meets four of the five criteria for a good scientific theory, and recent research suggests improvement in the fifth criterion, prediction. Ethical Reflections: Kant‟s categorical imperative A. EVT focuses on what‟s effective. Before we knowingly violate anothers expectation, we should consider what&rquo;s ethical. B. German philosopher Immanuel Kant believed that any time we speak or act, we have a moral obligation to be truthful. C. He held an absolutist position, based on his categorical imperative. D. The categorical imperative is a method for determining right from wrong by thinking through the ethical valence of an act, regardless of motive.

Constructivism (Chapter 8) I.

Introduction. A. Led by Jesse Delia, constructivists view one‟s implicit theory of communication as a tool for aligning one‟s culture, cognition, and communication.

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Constructivists use Walter Crockett‟s Role Category Questionnaire (RCQ) to “get inside your head.” Personal constructs as evidence of cognitive complexity. A. The core assumption of constructivism is that persons make sense of the world through systems of personal constructs. B. The RCQ is designed to sample these constructs. 1. Constructs are contrasting features we use to classify other people. 2. The RCQ centers on the categories of personality and action that we use to define the character of another person. C. The RCQ is used to measure the respondent‟s degree of cognitive complexity. 1. People with a large set of personal constructs have better social perception skills than those with fewer constructs. 2. Researchers are more concerned with the structure of the constructs than with the content of judgments. 3. Cognitive complexity allows us to make distinctions that are more sophisticated than binary classifications. Scoring the RCQ for construct differentiation. A. Differentiation concerns the number of separate personality constructs used to portray the person in question. B. Delia makes a good case for the RCQ‟s validity. C. Research has established that RCQ scores are independent of IQ, empathy, writing skill, and extroversion. D. Some critics charge that the RCQ simply measures wordiness. E. Constructivists believe that cognitive complexity enhances communication. Person-centered messages: the interpersonal edge. A. Delia and his colleagues claim that people who are cognitively complex have a communication advantage over those with less developed mental contructs. B. Person-centered messages reflect an awareness of and adaptations to subjective, affective, and relational aspects of the communication contexts. C. Ruth Ann Clark and Delia‟s study of schoolchildren links person-centered messages to cognitive complexity. D. Constructivists assume that strategic adaptation is a developmentally nurtured skill, but not all differences in construct differentiation are due to age. E. The capacity to create person-centered messages relates to rhetorical sensitivity, taking the role of the other, identification, self-monitoring, audience awareness, and listener adaptation. F. Cognitive complexity is a “necessary but not sufficient condition” of personcentered messages. Message production: Crafting goal-based plans for action A. Models of message production can be used to tie cognitive structures to speech acts. B. Berger‟s model of goal-directed, hierarchical plans is one such model. C. James Dillard‟s goals-plans-action model can also be used to explain the link between cognitive complexity and message production. 1. Goals—what do you want to accomplish? B.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

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a.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

Primary goals set into motion an ensemble of lower-level cognitive processes that occur in parallel and align with the overall aim of the primary goal. b. Secondary goals are of less importance than and often in conflict with primary goals. c. People with higher levels of cognitive complexity develop more complex goals for many social situations. 2. Plans—how to accomplish the goals. a. Procedural records are long-term memory recollections of actions taken in a specific situation paired with their consequences. b. Dillard suggests that we first look for tried-and-true plans to achieve our goals. c. Plan-making usually takes place very quickly and below our level of consciousness. 3. Action—communicating skillfully a. The communication context can be used as a resource by a cognitively complex individual. b. Women use more person-centered messages and score higher on the RCQ than men. Beneficial effects of sophisticated communication. A. Brant Burleson demonstrates that sophisticated messages are more comforting than clumsy attempts at social support. B. Burleson and Wendy Samter suggest that the degree of similarity in communicative skill may be more important than sophisticated communication for maintaining close friendships. C. Beverly Sypher and Theodore Zorn suggest that cognitive complexity enhances organizational effectiveness. Socializing a new generation of sophisticated speakers. A. Constructivist researchers show that cognitive complexity is transmitted culturally from parent to child. B. Because sophisticated messages are more often the product of parents from advantaged socioeconomic backgrounds, advantage is self-perpetuating. Critique: second thoughts about cognitive complexity. A. Constructivists‟ total reliance on the RCQ is problematic. B. Constructivists are open to the charge of elitism unless they champion the development of cognitive complexity across the socioeconomic spectrum.

Interpersonal Communication: Relationship Development Social Penetration Theory (Chapter 9) I.

Introduction. A. Developed by social psychologists Irwin Altman and Dalmas Taylor, social penetration theory explains how relational closeness develops.

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B.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

Closeness develops only if individuals proceed in a gradual and orderly fashion from superficial to intimate levels of exchange as a function of both immediate and forecast outcomes. Personality structure: a multilayered onion. A. The outer layer is the public self. B. The inner core is one's private domain. Closeness through self-disclosure. A. The main route to deep social penetration is through self-disclosure. B. With the onion-wedge model, the depth of penetration represents the degree of personal disclosure. C. The layers of the onion are tougher near the center. The depth and breadth of self-disclosure. A. Peripheral items are exchanged more frequently and sooner than private information. B. Self-disclosure is reciprocal, especially in early stages of relationship development. C. Penetration is rapid at the start but slows down quickly as the tightly wrapped inner layers are reached. 1. Societal norms prevent too much early self-disclosure. 2. Most relationships stall before a stable intimate exchange is established. 3. Genuine intimate exchange is rare but when it is achieved, relationships become meaningful and enduring. D. Depenetration is a gradual process of layer-by-layer withdrawal. E. For true intimacy, depth and breadth of penetration are equally important. Regulating closeness on the basis of rewards and costs. A. If perceived mutual benefits outweigh the costs of greater vulnerability, the process of social penetration will proceed. B. Social penetration theory draws heavily on the social exchange theory of John Thibaut and Harold Kelley. Outcome: rewards minus costs. A. Thibaut and Kelley suggest that people try to predict the outcome of an interaction before it takes place. 1. The economic approach to determining behavior dates from John Stuart Mill's principle of utility. 2. The minimax principle of human behavior claims that people seek to maximize benefits and minimize costs. 3. The higher we index a relational outcome, the more attractive the behavior that might make it happen. B. Social exchange theory assumes that people can accurately gauge the benefits of their actions and make sensible choices based on their predictions. C. As relationships develop, the nature of interaction that friends find rewarding evolves. Comparison level (CL)—gauging relational satisfaction. A. A person's CL is the threshold above which an outcome appears attractive. B. One's CL for friendship, romance, or family ties is pegged by one's relational history, the baseline of past experience.

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VIII.

IX.

X.

XI.

C. Sequence and trends play large roles in evaluating a relationship. Comparison level of alternatives (CLalt)—gauging relational stability. A. The CLalt is pegged by the best relational outcomes available outside the current relationship. B. When existent outcomes slide below an established CLalt, relational instability increases. C. Social exchange theories have an economic orientation. D. The CLalt explains why people sometimes stay in abusive relationships. 1. Some women endure abuse because Outcome > CLalt. 2. They will leave only when CLalt > Outcome. E. The relative values of Outcome, CL, and CLalt help determine one's willingness to disclose. 1. Optimum disclosure will occur when both parties believe that Outcome > CLalt > CL. 2. A relationship can be more than satisfying if it is stable, but other satisfying options are also available (in case this relationship turns sour). Ethical reflection: Epicurus‟ ethical egoism A. Psychological egoism reflects many social scientists‟ conviction that all of us are motivated by self-interest. B. Ethical egoism claim we should act selfishly. C. Epicurus emphasized the passive pleasures of friendship, good digestion, and above all, the absence of pain. D. Other philosophers (Thomas Hobbes, Adam Smith, Friedrich Nietzsche, Ayn Rand) echo the Epicurean call for selfish concern. A simple notion becomes more complex in practice A. Altman originally thought that openness is the predominant quality of relationship changes. The desire for privacy may counteract a unidirectional quest for intimacy. B. A dialectical model suggests that human social relationships are characterized by openness or contact and closedness or separateness between participants. C. Sandra Petronio‟s Communication Privacy Management theory maps out the intricate ways people handle their conflicting desires for privacy and openness 1. Petronio‟s theory describes the way people form their personal rules for disclosure, how those who disclose private information need to coordinate their privacy boundaries with the borders drawn by their confidants, and the relational turbulence that occurs when parties have boundary rules that don‟t match. 2. Petronio claims that the personal rules that guide our privacy/disclosure decisions are based on five different criteria: culture, gender, motives, context, risk-benefit ratio 3. Boundary coordination depends on: boundary linkage, boundary ownership, and boundary permeability. 4. Boundary turbulence is the product of parties‟ inability to coordinate their privacy rules and boundary management. Critique: pulling back from social penetration.

23

A. B. C. D. E. F.

Social penetration is an established and familiar explanation of how closeness develops in friendships and romantic relationships. But, it also has many critics. Petronio thinks it‟s simplistic to equate self-disclosure with relational closeness. She also challenges the theorists‟ view of disclosure boundaries as being fixed and increasingly less permeable. Can a complex blend of advantages and disadvantages be reliably reduced to a single index? Are people so consistently selfish that they always opt to act strictly in their own best interest? Paul Wright believes that friendships often reach a point of such closeness that self-centered concerns are no longer salient.

Uncertainty Reduction Theory (Chapter 10) I.

II.

III.

Introduction. A. Charles Berger notes that the beginnings of personal relationships are fraught with uncertainties. B. Uncertainty reduction theory focuses on how human communication is used to gain knowledge and create understanding. C. Any of three prior conditions—anticipation of future interaction, incentive value, or deviance—can boost our drive to reduce uncertainty. Uncertainty reduction: To predict and explain. A. Berger‟s focus on prediction echoes Shannon and Weaver. B. His emphasis on explanation (our inferences about why people do what they do) comes from the attribution theory of Fritz Heider. C. There are at least two types of uncertainty. 1. Behavioral questions, which are often reduced by following accepted procedural protocols. 2. Cognitive questions, which are reduced by acquiring information. An axiomatic theory: Certainty about uncertainty. A. Berger proposes a series of axioms to explain the connection between uncertainty and eight key variables. B. Axiom 1, verbal communication: As the amount of verbal communication between strangers increases, the level of uncertainty decreases, and, as a result, verbal communication increases. C. Axiom 2, nonverbal warmth: As nonverbal affiliative expressiveness increases, uncertainty levels will decrease. Decreases in uncertainty level will cause increases in nonverbal affiliative expressiveness. D. Axiom 3, information seeking: High levels of uncertainty cause increases in information-seeking behavior. As uncertainty levels decline, information-seeking behavior decreases. E. Axiom 4, self-disclosure: High levels of uncertainty in a relationship cause decreases in the intimacy level of communication content. Low levels of uncertainty produce high levels of intimacy. F. Axiom 5, reciprocity: High levels of uncertainty produce high rates of reciprocity. Low levels of uncertainty produce low levels of reciprocity.

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G.

IV.

V.

VI.

Axiom 6, similarity: Similarities between persons reduce uncertainty, while dissimilarities produce increases in uncertainty. H. Axiom 7, liking: Increases in uncertainty level produce decreases in liking; decreases in uncertainty produce increases in liking. I. Axiom 8, shared networks: Shared communication networks reduce uncertainty, while a lack of shared networks increases uncertainty. Theorems: The logical force of uncertainty axioms. A. Through pairing axioms, Berger creates 28 theorems. B. These 28 theorems suggest a comprehensive theory of interpersonal development based on the importance of reducing uncertainty in human interaction. Message plans to cope with uncertain responses. A. Berger concluded that most social interaction is goal-driven: we have reasons for saying what we say. 1. Berger claims plans are hierarchically organized with abstract representations at the top of the hierarchy and progressively more concrete representation toward the bottom. 2. Switching strategies at the top of the hierarchy causes changes down the hierarchy, altering behavior. B. Uncertainty is central to all social interaction. C. There is an interaction between uncertainty reduction theory and plan-based message production that suggests various strategies individuals use to cope with uncertainty and hedge against risk when deploying messages. 1. Seeking information through a passive, active, or interactive strategy. 2. Choosing plan complexity—the level of detail a plan includes and the number of contingency plans. 3. Hedging—planning ways for both parties to “save face” when at least one of them miscalculated. 4. The hierarchy hypothesis: When individuals are thwarted in their attempts to achieve goals, their first tendency is to alter lower-level elements of their message. Anxiety/uncertainty management (AUM) theory A. Gudykunst applied some of the axioms and theorems of uncertainty reduction theory to intercultural settings. B. He noted that both strangers and in-group members experience some degree of anxiety and uncertainty in any new interpersonal situation. C. Whereas Berger treats uncertainty as the key communication variable, Gudykunst elevated anxiety to an equal status. D. The end goal of AUM theory is effective communication rather than closeness or relational satisfaction. E. Where Berger‟s theory centers around 7 or 8 axioms, Gudykunst incorporated 34 of them. F. According to Gudykunst, anxiety and uncertainty arent always bad—a small amount of both makes us more vigilant. G. We are mindful when we consciously think about our communication and continually work at changing what we do in order to become more effective.

25

VII.

Critique: Nagging doubts about uncertainty. A. As Berger himself admits, his original statement contained some propositions of dubious validity. 1. Critics such as Kathy Kellermann consider theorem 17 particularly flawed. 2. The tight logical structure of the theory doesn‟t allow us to reject one theorem without questioning the axioms behind it. 3. In the case of theorem 17, axioms 3 and 7 must also be suspect. 4. Kellermann and Rodney Reynolds challenge the motivational assumption of axiom 3. 5. They also have undermined the claim that motivation to search for information is increased by anticipation of future interaction, incentive value, and deviance. B. Michael Sunnafrank challenges Berger‟s claim that uncertainty reduction is the key to understanding early encounters. 1. He believes that predicted outcome value more accurately explains communication in early encounters. 2. Berger insists that you can‟t predict outcome values until you reduce uncertainty. C. Despite these problems, Berger‟s theory has stimulated considerable discussion within the discipline.

Social Information Processing Theory (Chapter 11) I.

II.

Introduction A. Scholars who studied new electronic media have offered a variety of theories to explain the inherent differences between computer-mediated communication (CMC) and face-to-face communication 1. Social presence theory suggests that text-based messages deprive CMC users of the sense that other people are jointly involved in the interaction 2. Media richness theory classifies each communication medium according to the complexity of the messages it can handle efficiently. 3. A third theory concentrates on the lack of social context cues in online communication. B. Each of these theories favor a “cues filtered out” interpretation that regards the absence of nonverbal cues as the medium‟s fatal flaw. C. Joe Walther, a communication professor at Cornell University, argued that given the opportunity for sufficient exchange of social messages and subsequent relational growth, face-to-face and CMC are equally useful mediums for developing close relationships. CMC versus face-to-face: A sip instead of a gulp A. Walther labeled his theory social information processing (SIP) because he believes relationships grow only to the extent that parties first gain information about each other and use that information to form impressions. B. SIP focuses on the first link of the chain—the personal information available through CMC and its effect on the composite mental image of the other.

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C.

III.

IV.

Walther acknowledges that nonverbal cues are filtered out of the interpersonal information sent and received via CMC, but he doesn‟t think this loss is fatal. D. Two features of CMC provide a rationale for SIP theory. 1. Verbal cues: CMC users can create fully formed impressions of others based solely on linguistic content of messages. 2. Extended time: Though the exchange of social information is slower via CMC than face-to-face, over time the relationships formed are not weaker or more fragile. E. You‟ve got mail—A case study of online romance 1. The film, “You‟ve Got Mail” portrays an online relationship. 2. It also illustrates verbal cues and extended time, concepts crucial to SIP theory. Verbal cues of affinity replace nonverbal cues A. Walter claims that humans crave affiliation just as much online as they do in face-to-face interactions. But, with the absence of nonverbal cues that typically signal affinity, users must rely on text-only messages. B. He argues that verbal and nonverbal cues can be used interchangeably. C. Experimental support for a counter-intuitive idea 1. Walther and two of his former graduate students ran a comparative study to test how CMC users pursue their social goals and if affinity can be expressed through a digital medium. 2. In their study, the participants discussed a moral dilemma with a stranger via either CMC or face-to-face. The stranger was in actuality a research confederate told to pursue a specific communication goal. Half the confederates were told to interact in a friendly manner and the remaining pairs were told to interact in an unfriendly manner. 3. The mode of communication made no difference in the emotional tone perceived by the participants. 4. Self-disclosure, praise, and explicit statements of affection successfully communicated warmth as well as indirect agreement, change of subject, and compliments offered while proposing a contrasting idea. 5. In face-to-face interactions, participants relied on facial expression, eye contact, tone of voice, body position, and other nonverbal cues to communication affiliation. Extended time: The crucial variable in CMC A. Walther is convinced that the length of time that CMC users have to send messages is the key determinant of whether their message can achieve a comparable level of intimacy as face-to-face interactions. B. Messages spoken in person take at least four times as long to say via CMC. This differential may explain why CMC is perceived as impersonal and task-oriented. C. Since CMC conveys messages more slowly, Walther advises users to send messages more often. D. Anticipated future interaction and chronemic cues may also contribute to intimacy on the Internet.

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1.

V.

VI.

People will trade more relational messages if they think they may meet again and this anticipated future interaction motivates them to develop the relationship. 2. Walther believes that chronemic cues, or nonverbal indicators of how people perceive, use, or respond to issues of time, is the only nonverbal cue not filtered out of CMC. Hyperpersonal perspective: Closer through CMC than in person A. Walther uses the term hyperpersonal to label CMC relationships that are more intimate than romances or friendships would be if partners were physically together. B. He classifies four types of media effects that occur precisely because CMC users aren‟t proximal. 1. Sender: Selective self-presentation a. Through selective self-presentation, people who meet online have an opportunity to make and sustain an overwhelmingly positive impression. b. As a relationship develops, they can edit the breadth and depth of their self-disclosure to conform to the cyber image they wish to project. 2. Receiver: Overattribution of similarity a. Attribution is a perceptual process where we observe people‟s actions and try to figure out what they‟re really like. b. In the absence of other cues, we are likely to overattribute the information we have and create an idealized image of the sender. c. Martin Lea and Russell Spears describe this identification as SIDE—social-identity-deindividuation. i. Users meet around a common interest. ii. In the absence of contrasting cues, they develop an exaggerated sense of similarity and group solidarity. 3. Channel: Communicating on your own time a. Walther refers to CMC as an asynchronous channel of communication, meaning that parties do not have to use it simultaneously. b. A benefit is the ability to plan, contemplate, and edit one‟s comments more than is possible in spontaneous, simultaneous talk. 4. Feedback: Self-fulfilling prophecy a. A self-fulfilling prophecy is the tendency for a person‟s expectation of others to evoke a response from them that confirms what was anticipated. b. Self-fulfilling prophecy is triggered when the hyperpositive image is intentionally or inadvertently fed back to the other person, creating a CMC equivalent of the looking-glass self Critique: Walther‟s candid assessment A. Walther rejects technological determinism, or the belief that online communication is an inherently inferior medium for relational communication.

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B. C.

D. E.

Walther‟s empirical studies show that relationships in cyberspace often form at the same or even faster pace than they do for people who met off-line. CMC users who join online discussion groups or enter chat rooms may have a higher need for affiliation than the typical person whose relationships are developed through multichannel modes. The hyperpersonal perspective lacks a central explanatory mechanism to drive synthesis of the observed effects. The hyperpersonal perspective has also been less explicit in predicting negative relational outcomes in CMC.

Interpersonal Communication: Relationship Maintenance Relational Dialectics (Chapter 12) I.

II.

Introduction. A. Leslie Baxter and Barbara Montgomery study the intimate communication of close relationships. B. They quickly rejected the idea of discovering scientific laws that order the experience of friends and lovers. C. They were struck by the conflicting tensions people face in relationships. D. They believe that social life is a dynamic knot of contradictions. 1. Their theory on romantic relationships parallels work on friendship and family systems. 2. The basic premise is that personal relationships are a ceaseless interplay between contrary and opposing tendencies. 3. Relational dialectics highlight the tensions in close personal ties. The tug-of-war dialectics of close relationships. A. Contradiction is a core concept of relational dialectics. 1. Contradiction refers to the dynamic interplay between unified oppositions. 2. Every personal relationship faces the tension between intimacy and independence. 3. Paradoxically, bonding occurs in both interdependence with and independence from the other. B. Baxter and Montgomery draw heavily on Mikhail Bakhtin. 1. Bakhtin saw dialectical tension as the deep structure of all human experience. 2. Unlike Hegelian or Marxist dialectical theory, Bakhtin's oppositions have no ultimate resolution. 3. Dialectical tension provides opportunity for dialogue. C. To avoid the anxiety Westerners experience with paradox, Baxter used terms such as the tug-of-war in her research interviews. D. Relational dialectics is not referring to being of two mindsthe cognitive dilemma within the head of an individual who is grappling with conflicting desires. Instead she‟s describing the contradictions that are located in the relationship between parties. E. Dialectical tension is the natural product of our conversations

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F.

III.

IV.

Baxter and Montgomery believe that these contradictions are inevitable and can be constructive. Three dialectics that affect relationships. A. Although other theories emphasize closeness, certainty, and openness, people also seek autonomy, novelty, and privacy. 1. Conflicting forces in relationships aren't reducible to either/or decisions. 2. Dialectical tensions exist within a relationship (internal) and between a couple and their community (external). 3. There is no finite list of relational dialectics. B. Integration and separation. 1. This tension is a primary strain in all relationships. 2. If one side prevails, the relationship loses. 3. Within their social network, this tension is felt as inclusion pulling against seclusion. C. Stability and change. 1. Baxter and Montgomery acknowledge the need for both interpersonal certainty and novelty. 2. In the couple‟s relationship with others, this dialectic takes the form of conventionality versus uniqueness. D. Expression and nonexpression. 1. The pressures of openness and closedness wax and wane like phases of the moon. 2. A couple also faces the revelation and concealment dilemma of what to tell others. Second generation of relational dialectics: Bakhtin on dialogue. A. Baxter‟s early emphasis with Montgomery was on contradictory forces inherent in all relationships. B. Baxter has increasingly focused on the relational implications of Mikhail Bakhtin‟s conception of dialogue. C. Baxter highlights five dialogical strands within Bakhtin‟s thought. Without dialogue, there is no relationship. 1. Dialogue as a constitutive process. a. This dialogical notion is akin to the core commitments of Symbolic Interactionism and Coordinated Management of Meaning in that communication creates and sustains the relationship. b. A constitutive approach suggests that communication creates and sustains a relationship. c. Differences are just as important as similarities and both are created and evaluated through dialogue. 2. Dialogue as dialectical flux. a. The contradictory forces are in an unpredictable, unfinalizable, and indeterminate process of flux. b. Rather than single binary contradictions, each relational force is in tension with every other pole. 3. Dialogue as an Aesthetic Moment.

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Dialogue can be “a momentary sense of unity through a profound respect for the disparate voices in dialogue.” b. A meaningful ritual can be an aesthetic moment for all participants because it‟s a joint performance of normally competing and contradictory voices, 4. Dialogue as Utterance. a. An Utterance is only one of many communication links forming a dialogic chain based on a minimum of two voices. b. Baxter and Montgomery identify two typical strategies for responding to both voices: Spiraling inversion (switching back and forth between contrasting poles) and segmentation (compartmentalizing different aspects of a relationship). 5. Dialogue as a critical sensibility. a. Dialogue is obligated to critique dominant, oppressive voices. b. Baxter opposes any communication practice that ignores or gags another‟s voice. Ethical reflection: Sissela Bok‟s Principle of Veracity A. Bok rejects an absolute prohibition of lying B. But, she also rejects consequentialist ethics, which judge acts on the basis of whether we think they will result in harm or benefit. C. Her principle of veracity asserts that, “truthful statements are preferable to lies in the absence of special consideration.” Critique: Meeting the criteria for a good interpretive theory? A. Some scholars question whether relational dialectics should be considered a theory at all as it lacks prediction and explanation, and does not offer any propositions. B. Baxter and Montgomery agree and offer dialectics as a sensitizing theory. C. Relational dialectics should be evaluated based on the interpretive standards, on which it stacks up well. a.

V.

VI.

The Interactional View (Chapter 13) I.

The family as a system. A. Paul Watzlawick believes that individuals must be understood within the context of the family system. B. He was a member of the Palo Alto Group, which draws inspiration from Gregory Bateson. 1. They reject the idea that individual motives and personality traits determine the nature of communication within a family. 2. They are less concerned about why a person acts in a certain way than how that behavior affects the group. C. Relationships are complex functions resembling equations linking multiple variables. D. Along with his colleagues Janet Beavin and Don Jackson, Watzlawick presents key axioms describing the tentative calculus of human communication. 1. The axioms comprise the rules of the game.

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2. 3.

II.

III.

Games are sequences of behavior governed by rules. Each family plays a one-of-a-kind game with homemade rules and creates its own reality. Axioms of interpersonal communication. A. Family homeostasis is the tacit collusion of family members to maintain the status quo. B. The only way to recognize this destructive resistance to change is to understand the axioms. C. One cannot not communicate. 1. Communication is inevitable. 2. Corollary: one cannot not influence. D. Communication = content + relationship. 1. Every communication has a content aspect and a relationship aspect such that the latter classifies the former. 2. Content is what is said. 3. Relationship is how it is said. 4. Metacommunication is communication about communication. 5. Relationship messages are always the most important element in any communication, but when a family is in trouble, metacommunication dominates. 6. Sick family relationships only get better when members are willing to engage in metacommunication. E. The nature of a relationship depends on how both parties punctuate the communication sequence. 1. Punctuation concerns how a person marks the beginning of an interpersonal interaction. 2. Punctuation becomes a problem when each person sees himself or herself as only reacting to, rather than provoking, a cyclical conflict. F. All communication is either symmetrical or complementary. 1. The interactional view emphasizes issues of control, status, and power. 2. Symmetrical interchange is based on equal power, whereas complementary communication is based on differences of power. 3. Healthy relationships include both kinds of communication. 4. Relationships can only be assessed through an exchange of at least two messages. 5. Edna Rogers and Richard Farace's coding system categorizes control in ongoing marital interaction. a. One-up communication seeks to control the exchange. b. One-down communication yields control. c. One-across communication neutralizes control. d. Bids for dominance do not necessarily result in control of the interaction. Trapped in a system with no place to go. A. Family systems are highly resistant to change. B. Double binds are contradictory demands on members of the system.

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C.

IV.

V.

The paradox of the double bind is that the high-status party in a complementary relationship insists that the low-status person act as if the relationship were symmetrical. Reframing: changing the game by changing the rules. A. Destructive rules can be changed only when members analyze them from outside the system. B. Reframing is the process of altering punctuation and looking at things in a new light. C. Accepting a new frame means rejecting the old one. D. Adapting a new interpretive frame usually requires outside help. Critique: adjustments needed within the system. A. Recently, Janet Beavin Bavelas recommended modifying some axioms of the theory. 1. Not all nonverbal behavior is communication. In the absence of a senderreceiver relationship and the intentional use of a shared code, nonverbal behavior is informative rather than communicative. 2. A “whole message model” integrates verbal and nonverbal communication. 3. The term metacommunication should be reserved for explicit communication about the process of communicating, not all communication about a relationship. B. Systems theories involving people are difficult to evaluate because of equifinality—a given behavioral outcome could be caused by various interconnected factors. C. Despite these problems, the interactional view has had a terrific impact on the field of interpersonal communication.

Interpersonal Communication: Influence Social Judgment Theory (Chapter 14) I.

II.

Three latitudes: Acceptance, rejection, and noncommitment. A. Social judgment theory says that at the instant of perception, people compare messages to their present point of view. B. Individuals' opinions are not adequately represented as points along a continuum because degrees of tolerance around their positions must also be considered. C. Muzafer Sherif established three zones of attitudes. 1. The latitude of acceptance. 2. The latitude of rejection. 3. The latitude of noncommitment. D. A description of a person's attitude structure must include the location and width of each interrelated latitude. Ego-involvementhow much do you care? A. Ego-involvement refers to the importance of an issue to an individual. B. The favored position anchors all other thoughts about the topic.

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C.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

High ego-involvement can be defined as membership in a group with a known stand. D. Three features are typical of high ego-involvement. 1. The latitude of noncommitment is nearly nonexistent. 2. The latitude of rejection is wide. 3. People who hold extreme views care deeply. E. Moving from the cognitive structure of a person‟s attitude, attention shifts to the judgment part of the theory. Judging the message: contrast and assimilation errors. A. Social judgment-involvement describes the linkage between ego-involvement and perception. B. Contrast occurs when one perceives a message within the latitude of rejection as being more discrepant than it actually is from the anchor point. This perceptual distortion leads to polarization of ideas. C. Assimilation, the opposite of contrast, occurs when one perceives a message within the latitude of acceptance as being less discrepant than it actually is from the anchor point. D. Although Sherif is unclear as to how people judge messages that fall within the latitude of noncommitment, most interpreters favor a neutral reading. Discrepancy and attitude change. A. If individuals judge a new message to fall within their latitude of acceptance, they adjust their attitude to accommodate it. 1. The persuasive effect will be positive but partial. 2. The greater the discrepancy, the more individuals adjust their attitudes. 3. The most persuasive message is the one that is most discrepant from the receiver‟s position, yet still falls within his or her latitude of acceptance. B. If individuals judge a new message to be within their latitude of rejection, they may adjust their attitude away from it. 1. For individuals with high ego-involvement and broad latitudes of rejection, most messages that are aimed to persuade them and that fall within their latitudes of rejection have an effect opposite of what the communicator intended. 2. This boomerang effect suggests that individuals are often driven rather than drawn to the positions they occupy. C. Sherif's approach is quite automatic. 1. He reduced interpersonal influence to the issue of the distance between the message and the hearer's position. 2. Volition exists only in the choice of messages available to the persuader. Practical advice for the persuader. A. For maximum influence, select a message right on the edge of the audience's latitude of acceptance. B. Persuasion is a gradual process consisting of small movements. C. The most dramatic, widespread, and enduring attitude changes involve changes in reference groups with differing values. Evidence that argues for acceptance.

34

A.

VII.

Research on the predictions of social judgment theory requires highly egoinvolved issues. B. Studies have demonstrated three significant findings. 1. Messages from highly credible speakers will stretch the latitude of acceptance. 2. Ambiguity effectively places statements within the latitude of acceptance. 3. Dogmatic people have chronically wide latitudes of rejection. Critique: how wide is your theoretical latitude of acceptance? A. Application of the theory raises ethical problems. B. The theory has practical utility for persuaders. C. Like all cognitive explanations, social judgment theory assumes a mental structure and process that are beyond sensory observation. D. While it has not been widely tested empirically, research does support it, validating its claims while proving the theory falsifiable. E. Despite these reservations, social judgment theory is an elegant, intuitively appealing approach to persuasion.

Elaboration Likelihood Model (Chapter 15) I.

II.

The central route and the peripheral routes to persuasion. A. Richard Petty and John Cacioppo posit two basic routes for persuasion. B. The central route involves message elaboration, defined as the extent to which a person carefully thinks about issue-relevant arguments contained in a persuasive communication. C. The peripheral route processes the message without any active thinking about the attributes of the issue or the object of consideration. 1. Recipients rely on a variety of cues to make quick decisions. 2. Robert Cialdini has identified six such cues. a. Reciprocation. b. Consistency. c. Social proof. d. Liking. e. Authority. f. Scarcity. D. Although Petty and Cacioppo‟s model seems to suggest that the routes are mutually exclusive, they stress that the central route and the peripheral route are poles on a cognitive processing continuum that shows the degree of mental effort a person exerts when evaluating a message. E. The more listeners work to evaluate a message, the less they will be influenced by content-irrelevant factors; the greater the effect of content-irrelevant factors, the less impact the message carries. Motivation for elaboration: is it worth the effort? A. People are motivated to hold correct attitudes. B. Yet the number of ideas a person can scrutinize is limited, so we tend to focus on issues that are personally relevant.

35

C.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

Personally relevant issues are more likely to be processed on the central route; issues with little relevance take the peripheral route (credibility cues take on greater importance). D. Certain individuals have a need for cognitive clarity, regardless of the issue; these people will work through many of the ideas and arguments they hear. Ability for elaboration: can they do it? A. Distraction disrupts elaboration. B. Repetition may increase the possibility of elaboration. Type of elaboration: objective vs. biased thinking. A. Biased elaboration (top-down thinking) occurs when predetermined conclusions color the supporting data underneath. B. Objective evaluation (bottom-up thinking) considers the facts on their own merit. Elaborated messages: strong, weak, and neutral. A. Objective elaboration examines the perceived strength of an argument. 1. Petty and Cacioppo have no absolute standard for differentiating between cogent and specious arguments. 2. They define a strong message as one that generates favorable thoughts. B. Thoughtful consideration of strong arguments will produce positive shifts in attitude. 1. The change is persistent over time. 2. It resists counterpersuasion. 3. It predicts future behavior. C. Thoughtful consideration of weak arguments can lead to negative boomerang effects paralleling the positive effects of strong arguments (but in the opposite direction). D. Mixed or neutral messages won‟t change attitudes and in fact reinforce original attitudes. Peripheral cues: an alternative route of influence. A. Most messages are processed through the peripheral route, bringing attitude changes without issue-relevant thinking. B. The most obvious cues for the peripheral route are tangible rewards. C. Source credibility is also important. 1. The principal components of source credibility are likability and expertise. 2. Source credibility is salient for those unmotivated or unable to elaborate. D. Peripheral route change can be either positive or negative, but it won't have the impact of message elaboration. E. Celebrity endorsements constitute some of the most effective peripheral cues, yet the change can be short-lived. Pushing the limits of peripheral power. A. Penner and Fritzshe‟s study of Magic Johnson‟s HIV announcement suggests that the effect of even powerful peripheral cues is short-lived. B. Although most ELM research has measured the effects of peripheral cues by studying credibility, a speaker‟s competence or character could also be a stimulus to effortful message elaboration. C. It‟s impossible to make a list of cues that are strictly peripheral; cues that make a listener scrutinize a message are no longer mindless.

36

VIII.

IX.

X.

Choosing a route: practical advice for the persuader. A. If listeners are motivated and able to elaborate a message, rely on factual arguments—i.e., favor the central route. B. When using the central route, however, weak arguments can backfire. C. If listeners are unable or unwilling to elaborate a message, rely on packaging rather than content—i.e., favor peripheral route. D. When using the peripheral route, however, the effects will probably be fragile. Ethical reflection: Nilsen‟s significant choice A. Nilsen proposes that persuasive speech is ethical to the extent that it maximize people‟s ability to exercise free choice. B. Philosophers and rhetoricians have compared persuasion to a lover making fervent appeals to his beloved—wooing an audience, for example. C. For Nilsen, true love can‟t be coerced; it must be freely given. D. Nilsen would approve of persuasive appeals that encourage message elaboration through ELM‟s central route. Critique: elaborating the mode. A. ELM has been a leading theory of persuasion and attitude change for the last twenty years, and its initial model has been very influential. B. Petty and Cacioppo have elaborated ELM to make it more complex, less predictive, and less practical, which makes it problematic as a scientific theory. C. As Paul Mongeau and James Stiff have charged, the theory cannot be adequately tested and falsified, particularly in terms of what makes a strong or weak argument. D. Despite these limitations, the theory synthesizes many diverse aspects of persuasion.

Cognitive Dissonance (Chapter 16) I.

II.

III.

Dissonance: discord between behavior and belief. A. Identified by Leon Festinger, cognitive dissonance is the distressing mental state that people feel when they find themselves doing things that don‟t fit with what they know, or having opinions that do not fit with other opinions they hold. B. Humans have a basic need to avoid dissonance and establish consistency. C. The tension of dissonance motivates the person to change either the behavior or the belief. D. The more important the issue and the greater the discrepancy, the higher the magnitude of dissonance. Health-conscious smokers: Dealing with dissonance A. When Festinger first published his theory, he chose the topic of smoking to illustrate the concept of dissonance. B. Perhaps the most typical way for the smoker to avoid anguish is to trivialize or simply deny the link between smoking and cancer. C. Festinger noted that almost all of our actions are more entrenched than the thoughts we have about them. Reducing dissonance between attitudes and actions. A. Hypothesis #1: selective exposure prevents dissonance.

37

1. 2.

IV.

V.

We avoid information that is likely to increase dissonance. People select information that lined up with what they already believed and ignored facts or ideas that ran counter to those beliefs. But, selective exposure only explains about 5% of why we choose the information we choose. 95% is left unexplained. 3. Dieter Frey concluded that selective exposure exists only when information is known to be a threat. 4. Warm personal relationships are the best environment for considering discrepant views. B. Hypothesis #2: post decision dissonance creates a need for reassurance. 1. The more important the issue, the more dissonance. 2. The longer an individual delays a choice between two equally attractive options, the more dissonance. 3. The greater the difficulty involving reversing the decision once it has been made, the more dissonance. C. Hypothesis #3: minimal justification for action induces a shift in attitude. 1. Conventional wisdom suggests that to change behavior, you must first alter attitude. 2. Festinger reverses the sequence. 3. In addition, he predicts that attitude change and dissonance reduction depend on providing only a minimum justification for the change in behavior. A classic experiment: ldquo;Would I Lie for a dollar?” A. Festinger‟s minimal justification hypothesis is counterintuitive. B. The Stanford $1/$20 experiment supported the minimal justification hypothesis because subjects who received a very small reward demonstrated a change in attitude. State-of-the-art revisions: the cause and effect of dissonance. A. Most persuasion researchers today subscribe to one of three revisions of Festinger‟s original theory. B. Self-consistency: the rationalizing animal. 1. Elliot Aronson argued that dissonance is caused by psychological rather than logical inconsistency. 2. Humans aren't rational, they are rationalizing. 3. Research such as the $1/$20 experiment provides evidence of selfesteem maintenance. 4. The amount of dissonance a person can experience is directly proportional to the effort he or she has invested in the behavior. C. Personal responsibility for bad outcomes (the new look) 1. Joel Cooper argues that it‟s the knowledge that one‟s actions have unnecessarily hurt another person that generates dissonance. 2. Cooper concludes that dissonance is a state of arousal caused by behaving in such a way as to feel personally responsible for bringing about an aversive event. D. Self-affirmation to dissipate dissonance. 1. Claude Steele focuses on dissonance reduction.

38

2. 3.

VI.

VII.

He believes that high self-esteem is a resource for dissonance reduction. Steele asserts that most people are motivated to maintain a self-image of moral and adaptive adequacy. E. These three revisions of Festinger‟s theory are not mutually exclusive. Theory into practice: persuasion through dissonance. A. Festinger‟s theory offers practical advice for those who wish to effect attitude change as a product of dissonance. B. Apply the concepts of selective exposure, postdecision dissonance, and minimal justification to manage dissonance effectively. C. As long as counterattitudinal actions are freely chosen and publicly taken, people are more likely to adopt beliefs that support what they‟ve done. D. Personal responsibility for negative outcomes should be taken into account. Critique: Dissonance over dissonance. A. Cognitive dissonance may not be falsifiable. B. Festinger never specified a reliable way to detect the degree of dissonance a person experiences. 1. Patricia Devine applauds researchers who have attempted to gauge the arousal component of dissonance. C. Daryl Bem believes that self-perception is a much simpler explanation of attitude change than cognitive dissonance is. 1. His version of the $1/$20 experiment supports his contention. 2. Bem suggests that cognitive dissonance does not follow the rule of parsimony. D. Despite detractors, cognitive dissonance theory has energized objective scholars of communication for 50 years.

Group and Public Communication: Group Decision Making Symbolic Convergence Theory (Chapter 3) I.

II.

III.

Introduction A. Not all theories are equally effective. B. The utility of a theory may be judged by applying the appropriate criteria used by behavioral scientists and a wide range of interpretive scholars to weigh the theories of their colleagues. A test case: Ernest Bormann‟s symbolic convergence theory. A. Bormann‟s theory has roots in both the scientific and rhetorical traditions. B. Bormann maintains that the sharing of group fantasies creates symbolic convergence. C. During symbolic convergence, fantasy chain reactions build community or group consciousness and transform a collection of individuals into a group. D. Fantasy themes voiced across many groups create a shared social reality, labeled a rhetorical vision. What makes an objective theory good? A. Scientific standard 1: Explanation of the data.

39

1.

IV.

V.

A good theory makes sense out of disturbing situations or draws order out of chaos. 2. It focuses attention on crucial variables and away from irrelevant data. 3. It explains what is happening and why. 4. It explains both the process and the results. B. Scientific standard 2: Prediction of future events. Prediction in physical science is more accurate than in social science, where it is based on probability. C. Scientific standard 3: Relative simplicity. The rule of parsimony dictates that all things being equal, we accept the simpler explanation over the more complex. D. Scientific standard 4: Hypotheses that can be tested. If there is no way to prove a theory false, then the assumption that it‟s true is mere guesswork. E. Scientific standard 5: Practical utility. 1. A good objective theory provides increased control. 2. Don‟t dismiss a theory as impractical unless you understand it. What makes an interpretive theory good? A. Interpretive standard 1: New understanding of people. 1. Rhetorical theory elucidates texts. 2. It helps critics clarify complex communication. 3. It suggests universal patterns of symbol usage. 4. Whereas science wants objective explanation, humanism desires subjective understanding. 5. Klaus Krippendorff‟s Self-Referential Imperative: Include yourself as a constituent of your own construction. B. Interpretive standard 2: Clarification of values. 1. Theorists acknowledge their own values. 2. They seek to unmask the ideology behind messages. 3. Many theorists value individual liberty and equality. Krippendorff‟s Ethical Imperative: Grant others that occur in your construction the same autonomy you practice constructing them. 4. Many interpretivist scholars value equality as highly as they do freedom. C. Interpretive standard 3: Aesthetic appeal. 1. A theory‟s form can be as captivating as its content. 2. A rhetorical critic may be an artist, an analyst, audience, or advocate. 3. As an artist, the critic sparks appreciation. D. Interpretive standard 4: A community of agreement. A theory must have widespread scrutiny and usage. E. Interpretive standard 5: Reform of society. 1. Theory challenges cultural assumptions. 2. It generates alternatives for social action. Common ground among objective and interpretive criteria. A. The two sets of five criteria are not as different as they might seem. B. An explanation can further understanding of motive. C. Both prediction and value clarification look to the future. D. Simplicity has aesthetic appeal. E. Hypothesis testing is a way of achieving a community of agreement. F. Theories that reform are practical.

40

G.

H.

These parallels suggest important linkages between scientists and interpretive scholars. Many communication theorists are grounded somewhere between the two positions. Although all theories featured in this book have merit, most have weaknesses elucidated by the standards set forth in this chapter.

Functional Perspective on Group Decision Making (Chapter 17) I.

II.

III.

Introduction. A. Randy Hirokawa and Dennis Gouran believe that group interaction has a positive effect on decision-making. B. Hirokawa speaks of quality solutions; Gouran refers to appropriate decisions. C. The functional perspective illustrates the wisdom of joint interaction. Four functions for effective decision-making. A. Hirokawa and Gouran draw on the analogy between biological systems and small groups. 1. Group decision-making must fulfill four task requirements to reach a highquality decision. 2. These tasks are requisite functions of effective decision-making—hence the functional perspective label. B. Function #1: analysis of the problem. 1. Group members must take a realistic look at current conditions. 2. Misunderstandings of situations are compounded when group members make their final decision. 3. The clearest example of faulty analysis is a failure to recognize a potential threat. 4. Group members must determine the nature, extent, and probable cause(s) of the problem. C. Function #2: goal setting. 1. A group needs to establish criteria for judging proposed solutions. 2. Without such criteria, it is likely that the decision will be driven by politics rather than reason. D. Function #3: identification of alternatives. E. Function #4: evaluation of positive and negative characteristics. 1. Some group tasks have a positive bias—spotting the favorable characteristics of alternative choices is more important than identifying negative qualities. 2. Other group tasks have a negative bias—the unattractive characteristics of choice options carry more weight than the positive attributes. Prioritizing the functions. A. No single function is inherently more central than the others. B. As long as a group covers all four functions, the route taken is not the key issue. C. Nonetheless, groups that successfully resolve particularly tough problems often take a common decision-making path: problem analysis, goal setting, identifying alternatives, and evaluating the positive and negative characteristics.

41

D.

IV.

V.

Research suggests that the evaluation of negative consequences of alternative solutions was by far the most crucial to ensure a quality decision. E. Hirokawa now splits evaluation of positive and negative consequences and speaks of five requisite functions rather than four. The role of communication in fulfilling the functions. A. Traditional wisdom suggests that talk is the conduit through which information travels between participants. 1. Verbal interaction makes it possible for members to distribute and pool information, catch and remedy errors, and influence each other. 2. Ivan Steiner claimed that actual group productivity equals potential productivity minus losses due to processes. 3. Communication is best when it does not obstruct or distort the free flow of ideas. B. In contrast, Hirokawa believes that group discussion creates the social reality for decision-making. C. Hirokawa and Gouran outline three types of communication in decision-making groups. 1. Promotive—interaction that calls attention to one of the four decisionmaking functions. 2. Disruptive—interaction that detracts from the group‟s ability to achieve the four task functions. 3. Counteractive—interaction that refocuses the group. D. Since most communication disrupts, effective group decision-making depends upon counteractive influence. E. Hirokawa‟s Function-Oriented Interaction Coding System (FOICS) classifies each functional utterance for analysis. 1. Using FOICS, raters determine which of the four functions an utterance addresses. 2. They also consider whether the utterance facilitates or inhibits the group‟s focus on the function. 3. Coding decisions is fraught with difficulty, and Hirokawa continues to refine the methodology. From the tiny pond to the big ocean. A. In the laboratory, Hirokawa finds that the functional perspective accounts for over 60 percent of the total variance in group performance. B. Hirokawa‟s assistants used the FOICS to analyze the role of communication within the groups and judged how well each group met the requisite functions (except identifying alternatives). C. Yet the functional perspective will be unable to forge a stronger connection between communication and good group decisions until it can isolate specific comments that move a group along its path. 1. Raters could judge the quantity but not the quality of statements. 2. Hirokawa believes group decision-making performance is dependent more on quality than quantity of utterances. D. In 1995, Hirokawa studied a four-person medical team in rural Iowa.

42

Team members‟ discussions aligned with the four requisite functions specified by the functional perspective. 2. He discovered that the medical services they offered were more satisfying to the patients and less expensive to the state than conventional health care. 3. This experiment strengthened his faith in the vitality of the functional perspective in a real-world context. 4. Yet in some cases patients got worse, even when the requisite functions were addressed. E. The crucial challenge for group researchers is to discover precisely when a group‟s performance of functional requisites yields effective group decisions and when it does not. Practical advice for amateurs and professionals. A. Be skeptical of personal opinions. 1. Groups often abandon the rational path due to the persuasive efforts of other self-assured group members. 2. Unsupported intuition is untrustworthy. B. Follow John Dewey‟s six-step process of reflective thinking, which parallels a doctor‟s treatment regimen. 1. Recognize symptoms of illness. 2. Diagnose the cause of the ailment. 3. Establish criteria for wellness. 4. Consider possible remedies. 5. Test to determine which solutions will work. 6. Implement or prescribe the best solution. C. Hirokawa and Gouran‟s four requisite functions replicate steps two through five of Dewey‟s reflective thinking. D. To counteract faulty logic, insist on a careful process. 1.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

Ethical reflection: Habermas‟ discourse ethics A. Jürgen Habermas suggests a rational group process through which people can determine right from wrong. B. Being ethical means being accountable. C. People in a given culture or community can agree on the good they want to accomplish and over time build up wisdom on how to achieve it. D. The person who performed an act must be prepared to discuss what he or she did and why he or she did it in an open forum. E. He imagined an ideal speech situation where participants were free to listen to reason and speak their minds without fear of constraint or control. F. Three requirements must be met: 1. Requirement of access for all affected parties 2. Requirement of argument to figure out the common good 3. Requirement of justification or universal application Critique: is rationality overrated?

43

A.

B. C.

D.

Although the functional perspective is one of the three leading theories in small group communication, its exclusive focus on rationality may cause mixed experimental results. The FOICS method all but ignores comments about relationships inside and outside the group. Cynthia Stohl and Michael Holmes emphasize that most real-life groups have a prior decision-making history and are embedded within a larger organization. 1. They advocate adding a historical function requiring the group to talk about how past decisions were made. 2. They also advocate an institutional function that is satisfied when members discuss relevant parties who are absent from the decisionmaking process. Recently, Gouran has raised doubts about the usefulness of functional perspective for all small groups. 1. It‟s beneficial for members to fulfill the four requisite functions only when they are addressing questions of policy. 2. Groups addressing questions of fact, conjecture, or value may not find the requisite functions relevant.

Adaptive Structuration Theory (Chapter 18) I.

II.

Introduction. A. Scott Poole developed adaptive structuration theory to address issues of group stability vs. group change and free choice vs. determinism based on social structure. B. Poole wants group members to understand that they create groups as they act within them. Phasing out the phase model. A. Until recently, researchers thought that they identified a universal pattern for small group decision-making. B. A single-sequence model was generally accepted. 1. Orientation—efforts are unfocused because goals are unclear. 2. Conflict—factions disagree on approach to problem. 3. Coalescence—tensions are reduced through peaceful negotiation. 4. Development—group concentrates on ways to implement a single solution. 5. Integration—group focuses on tension-free solidarity rather than task. C. Marshall Poole did not accept the single-sequence model. D. In his early research, Poole discovered that only a quarter of the groups followed the single-sequence model. E. He became convinced that group dynamics are far too complicated to be reduced to a few propositions or a predictable chain of events. F. He also believed that group members affect outcomes. G. Poole, Robert McPhee, and David Seibold studied the work of Anthony Giddens. 1. Giddens suggests that people in society are active agents.

44

Poole adapted Giddens‟ macrotheory of societal structuration to the microlevel of small group activity. Structuration according to Giddens. A. Structuration refers to the production and reproduction of the social systems through members‟ use of rules and resources in interaction. 1. Interaction reflects Giddens‟ conviction about free will. 2. Rules and resources are used interchangeably with the term structures. a. Rules are implicit formulae for action. b. Resources are all personal traits, abilities, knowledge, and possessions people bring to interactions. 3. Production happens when people use rules and resources in interaction. 4. Reproduction occurs when actions reinforce features of the systems already in place. B. Giddens‟ concept of structuration inspires Poole‟s adaptive structuration theory. 1. Poole calls his theory adaptive because group members intentionally adapt rules and resources to accomplish goals. 2. Structuration is more complex than the single-sequence model. 3. Poole believes that the value of a theory of group decision-making hinges on how well it addresses the complexities of interaction. Interaction—concerns of morality, communication, and power. A. Poole assumes that group members are skilled and knowledgeable actors who reflexively monitor their activities. B. Morality, communication, and power are combined in every group action. C. Advocacy can sometimes hurt rather than help a reticent member of the group. D. Communication in small groups makes a difference. E. Adaptive structuration has a critical edge. The use and abuse of rules and resources. A. Rules are propositions that indicate how something ought to be done or what is good or bad. B. Resources are materials, possessions, or attributes that can be used to influence or control the actions of the group or its members. C. Rules and resources can constrain or empower group members D. Appropriation occurs when rules and resources are borrowed from parent organizations or from the larger culture. Researching the uses and rules and resources. A. Poole‟s research with Gerry DeSanctis explores how groups use computerized group decision support systems (GDSS) to improve decision-making. B. The computer system is designed to support democratic decision-making. 1. Equal opportunity to participate. 2. One vote per person. 3. Anonymous idea generation and balloting. C. Poole and DeSanctis call the values behind the system the spirit of the technology. 1. The spirit of the technology is the principle of coherence that holds a set of rules and resources together. 2.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

45

2.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

A faithful appropriation of technology is consistent with the spirit of the resource. 3. An abuse of rules and resources is described as ironic appropriation. Production of change, reproduction of stability. A. Poole emphasizes product—that which is produced and reproduced through interaction. B. Giddens‟ concept of duality of structure means that rules and resources are both the medium and the outcome of interaction. 1. In terms of group decision-making, the decision is affected by rules and resources, but it also affects those structures. 2. Duality of structure explains why some groups are stable and predictable and others are changing and unpredictable. C. Resources and rules can change gradually through interpenetration of structures. How then shall we live . . . in a group? A. Groups create themselves, yet members don‟t always realize this. B. Poole wants to empower low-power members to become agents of change within their groups. C. He recommends small, nonthreatening changes. Critique: Tied to Giddens—for better or for worse. A. Adaptive structuration is one of the three leading theories of group communication. B. Adaptive structuration privileges human choice and accounts for both stability and change. C. Adaptive structuration gains credibility because of its connection to Giddens. D. Adaptive structuration‟s critical edge seems tame for a theory rooted in the ideas of Giddens. E. Ken Chase argues that Giddens fails to provide a steady moral compass for ethical communication. F. Poole, as well, does not ground his theory on ethical assumptions. G. The tie to Giddens brings with it a level of complexity that can be confusing. H. Poole himself believes that group theories have failed to capture the imaginations of students and practitioners.

Group and Public Communication: Organizational Communication Cultural Approach to Organizations (Chapter 19) I.

Introduction. A. Anthropologist Clifford Geertz views cultures as webs of shared meaning, shared understanding, and shared sense making. B. Geertz‟ work has focused on Third World cultures, but his ethnographic approach has been applied by others to organizations. C. In the field of speech communication, Michael Pacanowsky has applied Geertz‟s approach in his research of organizations. D. Pacanowsky asserts that communication creates and constitutes the taken-forgranted reality of the world.

46

II.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

Culture as a metaphor of organizational life. A. Interest in culture as a metaphor for organizations stems from our recent interest in Japanese corporations. B. Corporate culture has several meanings. 1. The surrounding environment that constrains a companys freedom of action. 2. An image, character, or climate controlled by a corporation. 3. Pacanowsky argues that culture is not something an organization has, but is something an organization is. What culture is; what culture is not. A. Geertz and his colleagues do not distinguish between high and low culture. B. Culture is not whole or undivided. C. Pacanowsky argues that the web of organizational culture is the residue of employees‟ performances. D. The elusive nature of culture prompts Geertz to label its study a “soft science.” Thick description—what ethnographers do. A. Participant observation, the research methodology of ethnographers, is a timeconsuming process. B. Pacanowsky researched Gore & Associates. C. Although Pacanowsky now works with Gore, the company he researched, he earlier cautioned against “going native.” D. Thick description refers to the intertwined layers of common meaning that underlie what people say and do. 1. Thick description involves tracing the many strands of a cultural web and tracking evolving meaning. 2. Thick description begins with a state of bewilderment. 3. The puzzlement is reduced by observing as a stranger in a foreign land. E. Ethnographers approach their research very differently from behaviorists. 1. They are more interested in the significance of behavior than in statistical analysis. 2. Pacanowsky warns that statistical analysis and classification across organizations yield superficial results. F. As an ethnographer, Pacanowsky is particularly interested in imaginative language, stories, and nonverbal rites and rituals. Metaphors: taking language seriously. A. Widely used metaphors offer a starting place for assessing the shared meaning of a corporate culture. B. Metaphors are valuable tools for both the discovery and communication of organizational culture. The symbolic interpretation of story. A. Stories provide windows into organizational culture. B. Pacanowsky focuses on the script-like qualities of narratives that line out roles in the company play. C. Pacanowsky posits three types of organizational narratives. 1. Corporate stories reinforce management ideology and policies.

47

2.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

Personal stories define how individuals would like to be seen within an organization. 3. Collegial stories—usually unsanctioned by management—are positive or negative anecdotes about others within the organization that pass on how the organization “really works.” D. Both Geertz and Pacanowsky caution against simplistic interpretation of stories. E. Pacanowsky has demonstrated that scholars can use fiction to convey the results of their research. Ritual: this is the way it‟s always been, and always will be. A. Rituals articulate multiple aspects of cultural life. B. Some rituals are nearly sacred and difficult to change. Can the manager be an agent of cultural change? A. The cultural approach is popular with executives who want to use it as a tool, yet culture is extremely difficult to manipulate. B. Even if such manipulation is possible, it may be unethical. C. Linda Smircich notes that communication consultants may violate the ethnographer‟s rule of nonintervention and may even extend management‟s control within an organization. Critique: is the cultural approach useful? A. The cultural approach is criticized by corporate consultants, who believe that knowledge should be used to influence organizational culture. B. Critical theorists attack the cultural approach because it does not evaluate the customs it portrays. C. The goal of symbolic analysis is to create a better understanding of what it takes to function effectively within the culture. D. The cultural approach may fall short on one of the criteria for good interpretive theory, aesthetic appeal.

Critical Theory of Communication in Organizations (Chapter 20) 1. Introduction. A. Stanley Deetz‟ critical communication theory seeks to balance corporate and human interests. B. His work is based on the premise that corporations are political as well as economic institutions. C. Communication theory can be used to diagnose distorted corporate decisionmaking. D. Workplaces can be made more productive and democratic through communication reforms. 2. Corporate colonization of everyday life. A. Deetz views multinational corporations as the dominant force in society. B. Corporate control has sharply diminished the quality of life for most citizens. C. Deetz scrutinizes the structure of the corporate world. D. His theory of communication is “critical” because he questions the primacy of corporate prosperity. 3. Information or communication: a difference that makes a difference.

48

A. Deetz challenges Shannon and Weaver's theory that communication is the transmission of information, a view that perpetuates corporate dominance. B. All corporate communication is an outcome of political processes that are usually undemocratic and usually hurts democracy. C. Deetz‟ communication model emphasizes language's role in shaping social reality. 1. Language does not represent things that already exist; it produces what we believe to be “self-evident” or “natural.” 2. Corporations subtly produce meanings and values. D. Like Pearce and Cronen, Deetz considers communication to be the ongoing social construction of meaning, but he emphasizes that the issue of power runs through all language and communication. E. Managerial control often takes precedence over representation of conflicting interests or long-term company health. F. Codetermination, on the other hand, epitomizes participatory democracy. G. Public decisions can be formed through strategy, consent, involvement, and participation. 4. Strategy—overt managerial moves to extend control. A. Managerialism is a discourse that values control above all else. B. Forms of control based in communication systems impede any real worker voice in structuring their work. C. The desire for control can even exceed the desire for corporate performance. D. The quest for control is evident in the corporate aversion to public conflict. E. Strategic control does not benefit the corporation, and it alienates employees and causes rebellion. F. Because of these drawbacks, most managers prefer to maintain control through voluntary consent. 5. Consent—willing allegiance to covert control. A. Consent describes a variety of situations and processes in which someone actively, though unknowingly, accomplishes the interests of others in the faulty attempt to fulfill his or her own interests. B. Consent is developed through managerial control of elements of corporate culture: workplace language, information, forms, symbols, rituals, and stories. C. Systematically distorted communication operates without employees‟ overt awareness. 1. What can be openly discussed or thought is restricted. 2. Only certain options are available. D. Discursive closure suppresses potential conflict. 1. Certain groups of people may be classified as disqualified to speak on certain issues. 2. Arbitrary definitions may be labeled “natural.” 3. Values behind decisions may be kept hidden to appear objective. 6. Involvement—free expression of ideas, but no voice. A. Meaningful democracy requires that people affected by decisions have forums for discussion and a voice in the final result. 1. Forums provide the opportunity for the free expression of ideas.

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2. Voice means expressing interests that are freely and openly informed and having those interests represented in joint decisions. B. Through open discussion, employees air their grievances, state their desires, and recommend improvements. C. But free expression is not the same as having a “voice” in corporate decisions, and knowledge of this difference creates worker cynicism. 7. Participation—stakeholder democracy in action. A. Meaningful democratic participation creates better citizens and social choices while providing economic benefits. B. Deetz advocates open negotiations of power. C. There are six classes of stakeholders, each`with unique needs. 1. Investors. 2. Workers. 3. Consumers. 4. Suppliers. 5. Host communities. 6. Greater society and the world community. D. Some stakeholders have taken greater risks and made longer-term investments than have stockholders and top-level managers; Deetz believes these stakeholders should have a say in corporate decisions. E. Managers should mediate, rather than persuade, coordinating the conflicting interests of all parties. 8. Models of Stakeholder Participation. A. Wall Street analyst and changes in management have created an environment, at corporations such as Saturn Corp. and AES Corp. that is less friendly than it used to be for workers to have a voice in decision that affect them. B. George Cheney suggests “evidence weighs heavily against the long-term maintenance of the integrity of highly democratic organizations.” C. Cheney and Deetz believe small highly adaptive process-oriented companies can lead the way in sustaining participating democracy. 9. Ethical reflection: West‟s prophetic pragmatism A. Cornel West wants to overcome institutional oppression of the disadvantaged, degraded and dejected people who struggle on the margins of society. B. Evils exist not just because of ignorance or apathy, but are the result of pervasive human sin. C. As a prophetic pragmatist, West applauds an action-oriented approach to empower rather than exploit those excluded from the decision-making processes. 10. Critique—is workplace democracy just a dream? A. Deetz‟ approach to corporate decision-making is inherently attractive, yet there are some difficulties as well. B. Deetz‟ constructivist view of communication does not necessarily support his reform agenda. C. Deetz‟ campaign for stakeholder negotiation may not be realistic. D. Is it asking too much of one theory to reform both commonsense conceptions of communication and private business simultaneously?

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E. Deetz‟ suggest critical scholars should be “filled with care, thought, and good humor.”

Group and Public Communication: Public Rhetoric The Rhetoric (Chapter 21) I.

II.

III.

Introduction. A. Aristotle was a student of Plato's who disagreed with his mentor over the place of public speaking in Athenian life. B. Plato's negative view of public speaking was based on his assessment of the Sophists. C. Aristotle saw rhetoric as a neutral tool with which one could accomplish either noble or fraudulent ends. 1. Truth is inherently more acceptable than falsehood. 2. Nonetheless, unscrupulous persuaders may fool an audience unless an ethical speaker uses all possible means of persuasion to counter the error. 3. Speakers who neglect the art of rhetoric have only themselves to blame for failure. D. Although Aristotle's Politics and Ethics are polished, well-organized texts, the Rhetoric is a collection of lecture notes. E. Aristotle raised rhetoric to a science by systematically exploring the effects of the speaker, the speech, and the audience. Rhetoric: making persuasion possible. A. For Aristotle, rhetoric was the discovery in each case of the available means of persuasion. B. In terms of speech situations, he focused on civic affairs. 1. Forensic speaking considers guilt or innocence. 2. Deliberative speaking considers future policy. 3. Epideictic speaking considers praise and blame. C. Aristotle classified rhetoric as the counterpart of dialectic. 1. Dialectic is one-on-one conversation; rhetoric is one person addressing the many. 2. Dialectic searches for truth; rhetoric demonstrates existing truth. 3. Dialectic answers general philosophical questions; rhetoric addresses specific, practical ones. 4. Dialectic deals with certainty; rhetoric considers probability. Rhetorical proof: logos, ethos, and pathos. A. The available means of persuasion are based on three kinds of proof. 1. Logical proof (logos) comes from the line of argument in the speech. 2. Ethical proof (ethos) is the way the speaker's character is revealed through the message. 3. Emotional proof (pathos) is the feeling the speech draws from the hearers. B. Aristotle focused on two forms of logical proof—enthymeme and example. 1. Enthymeme is the strongest of the proofs.

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a. b.

IV.

V.

An enthymeme is an incomplete syllogism. Typical enthymemes leave out the premise that is already accepted by the audience. c. Lloyd Bitzer notes that the audience helps construct the proof by supplying the missing premise. d. The enthymeme uses deductive logic—moving from global principle to specific truth. 2. The example uses inductive reasoning—drawing a final conclusion from specific examples. C. Ethos emphasizes the speaker's credibility, which is manifested in intelligence, character, and goodwill. 1. Aristotle was primarily interested in how the speaker‟s ethos is created in a speech. 2. The assessment of intelligence is based on practical wisdom and shared values. 3. Virtuous character has to do with the speaker's image as a good and honest person. 4. Goodwill is a positive judgment of the speaker's intention toward the audience. 5. Aristotle's explication of ethos has held up well under scientific scrutiny. D. Although skeptical of the emotion-laden public oratory typical of his era, Aristotle attempted to help speakers use pathos ethically. E. Aristotle catalogued a series of opposite feelings, and then explained the conditions under which each mood is experienced. 1. Anger vs. mildness. 2. Love or friendship vs. hatred. 3. Fear vs. confidence. 4. Shame vs. shamelessness. 5. Indignation vs. pity. 6. Admiration vs. envy. The five canons of rhetoric. A. Invention—in order to generate effective enthymemes and examples, speakers draw upon both specialized and general knowledge known as topics or topoi. B. Arrangement—Aristotle recommended a basic structure. C. Style—Aristotle emphasized the pedagogical effectiveness of metaphor. D. Memory—Roman teachers emphasized this component. E. Delivery—naturalness is persuasive. Ethical reflection: Aristotle‟s golden mean A. Aristotle‟s work begs the question of the ethicality of altering a message to make it more acceptable to an audience. B. For Aristotle, ethics was an issue of character rather than conduct. C. He elevated moderation to a theory of virtue and saw wisdom in the person who avoided excess in either direction. D. This middle way is known as the golden mean. E. While the middle way may be the most effective, for Aristotle it was advocated not for its outcome but because it was the most virtuous.

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VI.

Critique: standing the test of time. A. The Rhetoric is revered by many public-speaking teachers. B. Nonetheless, clarity is often a problem with Aristotle‟s theory. 1. The enthymeme is not defined precisely. 2. The classification of metaphor is confusing. 3. The distinctions between deliberative and epideictic oratory are blurred. 4. The promised organizational structure is abandoned. C. Some critics are bothered by Aristotle's characterization of the audience as passive. D. Others desire more discussion of the rhetorical situation.

Dramatism (Chapter 22) I.

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III.

Introduction. A. Burke believes that language is a strategic human response to a specific situation. B. The task of the critic is to assess motives. C. For Burke, life is not like a drama; life is drama. D. In 1952, Marie Hochmuth Nichols brought Burke to the speech communication field. Identification: without it, there is no persuasion. A. Identification is the common ground that exists between speaker and audience. 1. Substance encompasses a person‟s physical characteristics, talents, occupation, background, personality, beliefs, and values. 2. The more overlap between the substance of the speaker and the substance of the audience, the greater the identification. 3. Although social scientists use the term homophily to describe perceived similarity between speaker and listener, Burke preferred religious allusions—identification is consubstantiation. B. Identification is established through style and content. C. Identification flows both ways between speaker and audience. D. Identification is never complete; division is a part of human existence. But without some kind of division, theres no need for identification and, consequently, for persuasion. The dramatistic pentad. A. The dramatistic pentad is a tool to analyze how a speaker tries to persuade an audience to accept his or her view of reality as true. 1. The act names what took place in thought or deed. 2. The scene is the background of the act, the situation in which it occurred. 3. The agent is the person or kind of person who performed the act. 4. The agency is the means or instruments used to perform the act. 5. The purpose is the implied or stated goal of the act. B. Content analysis identifies key terms on the basis of frequency and use. 1. The “god term”is the word to which all other positive words are subservient. 2. The “devil term” sums up all that the speaker regards as evil.

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V.

3. Words are terministic screens that dictate interpretations of life‟s drama. C. Burke contrasts the dramatistic pentad of intentional action with scientific terms that describe motion without purpose. D. The ratio of importance between individual pairs of terms in the dramatistic pentad indicates which element provides the best clue to the speaker‟s motivation. E. The speaker‟s worldview is revealed when one element is stressed over the other four. 1. An emphasis on act demonstrates a commitment to realism. 2. An emphasis on scene downplays free will and reflects an attitude of situational determinism. 3. An emphasis on agent is consistent with idealism. 4. An emphasis on agency springs from the mind-set of pragmatism. 5. An emphasis on purpose suggests the concerns of mysticism. F. Burke‟s use of purpose and motivation is somewhat confusing. Guilt-redemption cycle: the root of all rhetoric. A. The ultimate motivation of all public speaking is to purge ourselves of guilt. 1. Guilt is created through symbolic interaction. 2. Our problems are exacerbated by technology. 3. Hierarchies and bureaucracies induce guilt. 4. Perspective by incongruity calls attention to truth by linking two incongruous words. 5. Our drive for perfection hurts ourselves and others. 6. At its root, rhetoric is the public search for a perfect scapegoat. B. Redemption through victimage. 1. Rhetoric is a continual pattern of redemption through victimage. 2. Since self-blame (or mortification) is difficult to admit publicly, it‟s easier to blame someone else. 3. Victimage is the process of designating an external enemy as the source of all our ills. 4. Burke was not an advocate of redemption through victimage, but he recognized its prevalence. Critique: evaluating the critics analysis. A. Burke may have been the foremost twentieth-century rhetorician. B. His presentation is often confusing and obscure. 1. He employed multiple vocabularies and copious literary allusions. 2. Burke enthusiasts enjoy the challenge of reading his work because he celebrates the life-giving quality of language. C. The dramatistic pentad is the most popular feature of Burke‟s approach. D. The concept of rhetoric as identification is a major advance. E. Of Burke‟s motivational principles, his strategies of redemption are the most controversial. 1. Many find his religious imagery problematic. 2. His assumption that guilt underlies all public address is questionable. F. Burke‟s commitment to an ethical stance is commendable.

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Narrative Paradigm (Chapter 23) I.

II.

III.

IV.

Introduction. A. For Walter Fisher, storytelling epitomizes human nature. B. All forms of human communication that appeal to our reason are stories. C. Offering good reasons has more to do with telling a compelling story than it does with piling up evidence or constructing a tight argument. D. Fisher‟s narrative paradigm emphasizes that no communication is purely descriptive or didactic. Narration and paradigm: defining the terms. A. Fisher defines narration as symbolic actions—words and/or deeds—that have sequence and meaning for those who live, create, and interpret them. B. Fisher‟s definition is broad. 1. Narration is rooted in time and space. 2. It covers every aspect of life with regard to character, motive, and action. 3. It refers to verbal and nonverbal messages. 4. Even abstract communication is included. C. A paradigm is a conceptual framework. D. Fisher‟s narrative paradigm is offered as the foundation on which a complete rhetoric needs to be built. Paradigm shift: from a rational-world paradigm to a narrative one. A. The mind-set of the reigning technical experts is the rational-world paradigm. 1. People are essentially rational. 2. We make decisions on the basis of arguments. 3. The type of speaking situation (legal, scientific, legislative) determines the course of our argument. 4. Rationality is determined by how much we know and how well we argue. 5. The world is a set of logical puzzles that we can solve through rational analysis. B. The narrative paradigm is built on parallel, yet contrasting, premises. 1. People are essentially storytellers. 2. We make decisions on the basis of good reason, which vary depending on the communication situation, media, and genre (philosophical, technical, rhetorical, or artistic). 3. History, biography, culture, and character determine what we consider good reasons. 4. Narrative rationality is determined by the coherence and fidelity of our stories. 5. The world is a set of stories from which we choose, and thus constantly re-create, our lives. C. Unlike the rational-world paradigm, the narrative paradigm privileges values, aesthetic criteria, and commonsense interpretation. D. We judge stories based on narrative rationality. Narrative rationality: coherence and fidelity. A. Fisher believes that everyone applies the same standards of narrative rationality to stories.

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B. C. D.

V.

The twin tests of a story are narrative coherence and narrative fidelity. Narrative coherence: does the story hang together? How probable is the story to the hearer? 1. Narrative consistency parallels lines of argument in the rational-world paradigm. 2. The test of reason, however, is only one factor affecting narrative coherence. 3. Coherence can be assessed by comparing a story to others with a similar theme. 4. The ultimate test of narrative coherence is whether or not we can count on the characters to act in a reliable manner. E. Narrative fidelity: does the story ring true and humane? 1. Does the story square with the hearer‟s experiences? 2. A story has fidelity when it provides good reasons to guide our future actions. 3. Values set the narrative paradigm‟s logic of good reasons apart from the rational-world paradigm‟s logic of reasons. 4. The logic of good reasons centers on five value-related issues. a. The values embedded in the message. b. The relevance of those values to decisions made. c. The consequence of adhering to those values. d. The overlap with the worldview of the audience. e. Conformity with what audience members believe is an ideal basis of conduct. 5. People tend to prefer accounts that fit with what they view as truthful and humane. 6. There is an ideal audience that identifies the humane values that a good story embodies. 7. These stories include the timeless values of truth, the good, beauty, health, wisdom, courage, temperance, justice, harmony, order, communion, friendship, and oneness with the Cosmos. 8. Communities not based on humane virtues are possible, but Fisher believes these less idealistic value systems lack true coherence. 9. Judging a story to have fidelity means we believe shared values can influence belief and action. Critique: does Fisher‟s story have coherence and fidelity? A. Fisher‟s narrative paradigm offers a fresh reworking to Aristotelian analysis. B. Fisher‟s principles of narrative coherence and fidelity can be used to analyze various types of communication, which provides strong evidence of their validity. C. Critics charge that Fisher is overly optimistic. D. Stories promoting the status quo may have undue influence and oppressive power.

Mass Communication: Media and Culture Media Ecology (Chapter 24)

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I.

II.

III.

IV.

Introduction. A. Marshall McLuhan believed that media should be understood ecologically B. Changes in technology alter the symbolic environment—the socially constructed, sensory world of meanings that in turn shapes our perceptions, experiences, attitudes, and behavior. The medium is the message. A. We‟ve accustomed to thinking of the message as separate from the medium itself. B. McLuhan blurred the distinction between the message and the medium. C. We focus on the content and overlook the medium—even though content doesn‟t exist outside of the way it‟s mediated. The challenge of media ecology. A. Any understanding of social and cultural change is impossible without knowledge of the way media work as environments. B. All environments are inherently intangible and interrelated. C. An environment is not a thing; it is the intricate association of many things. 1. Invisibility of environments a. We have trouble recognizing “the way media work as environments” because we‟re so immersed in them. b. We need to focus on our everyday experience of technology. c. A medium shapes us because we partake of it over and over until it becomes an extension of ourselves. d. It‟s the ordinariness of media that makes them invisible. 2. Complexity of environments a. Understanding the influential relationship between the media environment and society is a subtle but crucial endeavor that demands a complex sense of both incremental and sudden changes. b. McLuhan traces the major ecological shifts in media throughout human history. A media analysis of human history. A. The tribal age: An acoustic place in history 1. The senses of hearing, touch, taste, and smell were more advanced than visualization. 2. “Primitive” people lived richer lives than their literate descendants because the ear does not select. 3. People acted with more passion and spontaneity. B. The age of literacy: A visual point of view. 1. Literacy moved people from collective tribal involvement to private detachment. 2. Literacy encouraged logical, linear thinking, and fostered mathematics, science, and philosophy. C. The print age: Prototype of the industrial revolution. 1. The printing press made visual dependence widespread. 2. The development of fixed national languages produced nationalism.

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3.

V.

VI.

McLuhan regarded the fragmentation of society as the most significant outcome of print. D. The electronic age: The rise of the global village. 1. McLuhan believed that the electronic media are retribalizing humanity. 2. In an electronic age, privacy is a luxury or a curse of the past. 3. Linear logic is useless in the electronic society; we focus on what we feel. E. The digital age? Rewiring the global village 1. The digital age is wholly electronic. 2. The mass age of electronic media is becoming increasingly personalized. Ethical reflection: Postman‟s Faustian bargain A. Neil Postman believed that the forms of media regulate and even dictate what kind of content the form of a given medium can carry. B. Unlike McLuhan, Postman believed that the primary task of media ecology is to make moral judgments. C. New technology always presents us with a Faustian bargain—a potential deal with the devil. D. Television has led to the loss of serious public discourse. Triviality trumps seriousness. E. Postman thought three questions should asked of any new technology. 1. What is the problem to which this technology is a solution? 2. Whose problem is it, actually? 3. Is there is a legitimate problem here to be solved, what other problems will be created by my using this technology? Critique: How could he be right? But what if he was? A. McLuhan did not adequately support his claims. B. His prose is very difficult to understand. C. Deterministic theories have difficulty with the criterion of falsifiability. D. Tom Wolfe suggests that McLuhan may be one of the great geniuses of our era.

Semiotics (Chapter 25) I.

II.

Introduction. A. Roland Barthes held the Chair of Literary Semiology at the College of France. B. In Mythologies, he sought to decipher the cultural meaning of visual signs, particularly those perpetuating dominant social values. C. Semiology is concerned with anything that can stand for something else. D. Barthes is interested in signs that are seemingly straightforward, but which subtly communicate ideological or connotative meaning. E. Barthes had an unusual style for an academic and was extremely influential. Wrestling with signs. A. Barthes‟ true concern was with connotation&mash;the ideological baggage that signs carry wherever they go. B. The structure of signs is key to Barthes‟ theory. C. Ferdinand de Saussure coined the term semiology to refer to the study of signs. D. A sign is the combination of its signifier and signified. 1. The signifier is the image; the signified is the concept.

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In Barthes‟ terms, the signifier isn‟t the sign of the signified&mash;rather the sign is the combination of signifier and signified, which are united in an inseparable bond. 3. These distinctions come from Saussure. 4. The relationship between the signifier and the signified in a verbal sign is arbitrary. 5. The relationship between the signifier and the signified in a nonverbal sign is based on affinity and is therefore quasi-arbitrary. E. A sign does not stand on its own: it is part of a system. 1. A structural analysis of features common to all semiotic systems is called taxonomy. 2. Barthes believed semiotic systems function the same way despite their apparent diversity. 3. Significant semiotic systems create myths that affirm the status quo as natural, inevitable, and eternal. The yellow ribbon transformation: from forgiveness to pride. A. Not all semiological systems are mythic. B. Mythic or connotative systems are second-order semiological systems built off of preexisting sign systems. C. Within mythic systems, the sign of the first system becomes the signifier of the second. The making of myth: stripping the sign of its history. A. Every ideological sign is the result of two interconnected sign systems. B. The first system is strictly descriptive as the signifier image and the signified concept combine to produce the denotative sign. C. The second system appropriates the sign of the denotative system and makes it the signifier of the connotative system. D. This lateral shift transforms a neutral sign into an ideological tool. E. The original denotative sign is not lost, but it is impoverished. 1. The mythic sign carries the crust of falsity. 2. The mythic communication is unable to imagine anything alien, novel, or other. Unmasking the myth of a homogeneous society. A. Only those who understand semiotics can detect the hollowness of connotative signs. B. Mythic signs don‟t explain, defend, or raise questions. C. Mythic signs always reinforce dominant cultural values. D. They naturalize the current order of things. The semiotics of mass communication: “I‟d like to be like Mike.” A. Because signs are integral to mass communication, Barthes‟ semiotic analysis has become an essential media theory. B. Kyong Kim argues that the mass signification arising in a response to signs is an artificial effect calculated to achieve something else. C. Advertisements on television create layers of connotation that reaffirm the status quo. Critique: do mythic signs always reaffirm the status quo? 2.

III.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

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A. B.

C.

D.

Some students of signification disagree with Barthes‟ view that all connotative systems uphold the values of the dominant class. Scholars such as Anne Norton and Douglass Kellner expand Barthes‟ semiotic approach to argue that signs can subvert the status quo or exemplify a countercultural connotative system. Dick Hebdige suggests that although countercultural semiotic activity is eventually co-opted by mainstream society, it enjoys a brief time of subversive signification. Barthes‟ semiotic approach to imagery remains a core theoretical perspective for communication scholars, particularly those who emphasize media and culture.

Cultural Studies (Chapter 26) I.

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III.

Introduction. A. Critical theorists such as Stuart Hall question the scientific focus of mainstream communication research on media influence. B. Influenced by Marxist interpretation of society, Hall‟s central concern is how the mass media create support for hegemonic ideological positions. C. Hall and most critical theorists want to change the world to empower people on the margins of society. The media as powerful ideological tools. A. Hall believes that the media function to maintain the dominance of the powerful and to exploit the poor and powerless. B. Ideology is defined as “those images, concepts and premises which provide the framework through which we represent, interpret, understand and „make sense‟ of some aspect of social existence.” C. Mainstream U.S. mass communication research serves the myth of democratic pluralism and ignores the power struggle that the media mask. D. To avoid academic compartmentalization, Hall prefers cultural studies to media studies. E. Articulate means both speaking out against oppression and linking that subjugation with the communication media. F. Hall's mission reflects his Marxist interpretation of history. G. Cultural studies is closely related to critical theory but places more emphasis on resistance than rationality. Early cultural critics. A. In order to grasp Hall‟s theory, we must first understand its roots. B. Cultural critics by the end of World War II were concerned with the question of why oppression persisted and dominant capitalist economies continued to thrive. C. Frankfurt School theorists argued that the corporate-owned media were effective in tailoring messages that supported the capitalist system. 1. The media present capitalism as natural, eternal, and unalterable. 2. To describe the cultural role of the media, Hall adopts the term hegemony, meaning preponderant influence or domination of one nation over another. 3. In Hall‟s terms, hegemony refers to already accepted interpretations of reality that keep society‟s haves in power over its have-nots.

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D.

IV.

V.

VI.

VII.

Roland Barthes provided a way to start with concrete media images and systematically deconstruct their shift in meaning. 1. Semiotics tangibly illustrates how societal power is preserved and communicated through everyday objects and symbols. 2. Yet semiotics does not adequately explain why certain meanings get attached to certain symbols at certain times. E. Michel Foucault believed signs and symbols couldn‟t be separated from mass media images. 1. They are unified by their common discursive nature and require frameworks of interpretation in order to make sense. 2. The framework people use is provided through the dominant discourse of the day. Making meaning. A. Hall contends that the primary function of discourse is to make meaning. 1. Words and signs have no intrinsic meaning. 2. We learn what signs mean through discourse—through communication and culture. B. Hall believes we must examine the sources of discourse. 1. People with power create “discursive formations” that become naturalized. 2. Those ways of interpreting the world are perpetuated through further discourse and keep the dominant in power. Corporate control of mass communication. A. Hall believes the focus of the study of communication should be on how human culture influences the media and on power relations and social structures. B. Hall and other advocates of cultural studies believe that media representations of culture reproduce social inequalities and keep the average person powerless. C. At least in the U.S., corporations produce and distribute the vast majority of information we receive. D. Corporate control of information prevents many stories from being told. E. The ultimate issue for cultural studies is not what information is presented, but whose information it is. The media role in the Gulf War. A. A variety of cultural products can be deployed to generate popular support for the dominant ideology. B. The media practice hegemonic encoding—the regulation of discourse so that some messages are encoded by the mass media then decoded, internalized, and acted upon by the audience. 1. Other ideas remain unvoiced. 2. Complex ethical questions are not engaged. C. Hall uses the term “ideological discourses of constraint” to refer to the media‟s limitation of alternatives and presentation of restricted choices as the only options. Post 9/11 media coverage. A. Hall believes the mass media provide the guiding myths that shape our perception of the world and serve as important instruments of social control. B. He believes hegemonic encoding occurs all the time, yet it‟s not a conscious plot.

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VIII.

IX.

An obstinate audience. A. Audiences may not accept the source‟s ideology. B. There are three ways to decode a message. 1. Operate inside the dominant code. 2. Apply a negotiable code. 3. Substitute an oppositional code. C. Although Hall has trouble believing the powerless can change the system, he respects the ability of people to resist the dominant code. D. He is unable to predict, though, when and where resistance will spring up. Critique: Your judgment will depend on your ideology. A. The strong ideological component inherent in cultural studies limits its credibility. B. Hall‟s work is relatively silent in regards to women as equal victims of hegemony with ethnic minorities and the poor. C. Hall doesn‟t offer specific remedies for the problems he identifies. D. Hall's great contribution is his insistence that one cannot talk about meaning without considering power. E. Samuel Becker notes that although Hall knocks the dominant ideology of communication studies, he has become the most dominant figure in the field.

Mass Communication: Media Effects Cultivation Theory (Chapter 27) I.

II.

III.

Introduction. A. George Gerbner argued that heavy television viewing creates an exaggerated belief in a mean and scary world. B. Gerbner emphasized the symbolic content of television drama. C. Television has surpassed religion as the key storyteller in our culture. D. Violence is television‟s principal message, and particularly for devoted viewers. E. Although other media have violent content, television is the most significant. An index of violence. A. Gerbner developed an objective measure for evaluating television violence. B. He defined dramatic violence as the overt expression of physical force (with or without a weapon, against self or others) compelling action against one‟s will on pain of being hurt and/or killed or threatened to be so victimized as part of the plot. C. Gerbner and his associates monitored incidences of violence on television for over twenty years. Equal violence, unequal risk. A. Gerbner found that the portrayal of violence varies little from year to year. B. Over half of prime-time programs contain violence or the threat of violence. C. Two-thirds of the major characters are caught up in violence; heroes are just as involved as villains. D. Old people, children, Hispanics, African Americans, women, and blue-collar workers are more often victimized.

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E.

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V.

VI.

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Television places marginalized people in symbolic double jeopardy by simultaneously underrepresenting and overvictimizing them. F. Not surprisingly, marginalized people then exhibit the most fear of violence as a result of television programming. Establishing a viewer profile. A. Gerbner used survey research to measure viewer behavior and attitudes because the nature of the cultivation hypothesis rules out experimental testing. B. He distinguishes between light viewers (up to two hours per day) and heavy viewers (four or more hours per day), whom he calls “the television type.” C. Light viewers watch particular shows, but television types aren‟t selective. D. Cultivation theory suggests heavy viewers will regard the world as more dangerous than light viewers. Minds plowed by television grow fearful thoughts. A. Gerbner seeks the “cultivation differential,” which compares the attitudes of light and heavy viewers. B. He focuses on four attitudes. 1. Chances of involvement with violence—light viewers predict their weekly odds of being victimized at 1/100, whereas heavy viewers predict 1/10. 2. Fear of walking alone at night—heavy viewers overestimate the danger by a factor of ten. 3. Perceived activity of police—heavy viewers overestimate the size of law enforcement by a factor of five. 4. General mistrust of people—heavy viewers are suspicious of others‟ motives (the mean world syndrome). Mainstreaming: Blurring, blending, and bending of viewer attitudes A. Mainstreaming is the process by which heavy viewers develop a commonality of outlook through constant exposure to the same images and labels. B. Gerbner illustrates the mainstream effect by showing how television types blur economic and political distinctions. 1. They assume that they are middle class. 2. They believe they are political moderates. 3. In fact, heavy viewers tend to be conservative. C. Gerbner labels the general “mainstream” political outlook of heavy viewers the “new populism,” a position that aligns itself with the policies of former President Reagan. Resonance: Reliving experience of real-life violence A. Resonance occurs when repeated symbolic portrayals of violence cause viewers to replay their real-life experiences with violence over and over. B. Resonance amplifies cultivation patterns. C. Rather than focus on the few people who imitate television violence, Gerbner wants to look at the large majority of people who are terrified by the world. Does dramatic violence still cultivate fear? A. Does the dramatic portrayal continue to cultivate the fear of a mean and scary world in the age of wider media choices? B. Gerber found the more things change, the more they stay the same.

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Violence in programs has been replaced by violent video games and graphic newscasts. Critique: Is the cultivation differential real, large, crucial? A. Although Gerbner‟s basic claim makes intuitive sense, his theory and research methodology are controversial. B. Cultivation theory advocates Michael Morgan and James Shanahan argue that attacks on Gerbner‟s cultivation theory focus on “methodological minutia” and are politically motivated. C. Yet how do we interpret the consistent yet small relationship between heavy television viewing and the belief in a mean and scary world? D. Performing a meta-analysis of cultivation studies that examine the link between hours watched and the tendency to give “television answers,” Morgan and Shanahan discovered a consistent positive relationship +.091. 1. Given the large sample sizes used, this correlation is statistically significant. 2. However, it is only one factor among many, a small portion of the total picture. 3. But, it points out the criticalness of the issue at hand and fear‟s paralyzing effects. E. Demonstrating continued commitment to the issues addressed by cultivation theory, Gerbner founded the Cultural Environment Movement, a coalition of organizations and social activists.

Agenda Setting Theory (Chapter 28) I.

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The original agenda: not what to think, but what to think about. A. Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw regard Watergate as a perfect example of the agenda-setting function of the mass media. B. They believe that the mass media have the ability to transfer the salience of items on their news agendas to the public agenda. C. The basic theoretical issue had been addressed earlier by Walter Lippman, Bernard Cohen, and Theodore White. A theory whose time had come. A. Agenda-setting theory contrasted with the prevailing selective exposure hypothesis, reaffirming the power of the press while maintaining individual freedom. B. It represented a back-to-the-basics approach to mass communication research, with a focus on election campaigns. C. The hypothesis predicts a cause-and-effect relationship between media content and voter perception, particularly a match between the media‟s agenda and the public‟s agenda later on. Media agenda and public agenda: a close match. A. In their groundbreaking study, McCombs and Shaw first measured the media agenda. B. They established the position and length of story as the primary criteria of prominence.

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IV.

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They disregarded articles about matters extrinsic to the issues. The remaining stories were divided into five major issues and ranked in order of importance. E. Rankings provided by uncommitted voters aligned closely with the media‟s agenda. What causes what? A. McCombs and Shaw believe that the hypothesized agenda-setting function of the media causes the correlation between the media and public ordering of priorities. B. However, correlation does not prove causation. 1. A true test of the agenda-setting function must show that public priorities lag behind the media agenda. 2. McCombs and three other researchers demonstrated a correlational time lag between media coverage and the public agenda during the 1976 presidential campaign. C. To examine whether the media agenda and the public agenda might just reflect current events, Ray Funkhouser documented a situation in which there was a strong relationship between media and public agendas. The twin agendas did not merely mirror reality, but Funkhouser failed to establish a chain of influence from the media to the public. D. Shanto Iyengar, Mark Peters, and Donald Kinder‟s experimental study confirmed a cause-and-effect relationship between the media‟s agenda and the public‟s agenda. Who sets the agenda for the agenda setters? A. Some scholars target major news editors or “gatekeepers.” B. Others point to politicians and their spin-doctors. C. Current thinking focuses on public relations professionals. D. “Interest aggregations” are becoming extremely important. Who is most affected by the media agenda? A. Those susceptible have a high need for orientation or index of curiosity. B. Need for orientation arises from high relevance and uncertainty. Framing: transferring the salience of attributes. A. Throughout the last decade, McCombs has emphasized that the media influence the way we think. B. This process is called framing. 1. A media frame is the central organizing idea for news content that supplies a context and suggests what the issue is through the use of selection, emphasis, exclusion, and elaboration. 2. This definition suggests that media not only set an agenda but also transfer the salience of specific attributes to issues, events, or candidates. C. There are two levels of agenda setting. 1. The transfer of salience of an attitude object in the mass media‟s pictures of the world to a prominent place among the pictures in our heads. 2. The transfer of salience of a bundle of attributes the media associate with an attitude object to the specific features of the image in our minds. Not just what to think about, but how to think about it.

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Two national election studies suggest that framing works by altering pictures in the minds of people and, through the construction of an agenda with a cluster of related attributes, creating a coherent image. B. Salma Ghanem‟s study of Texans tracked the second level of agenda setting and suggested that attribute frames have a compelling effect on the public. C. Framing is inevitable. D. McCombs and Shaw now contend that the media may not only tell us what to think about, they also may tell us who and what to think about it, and perhaps even what to do about it. Beyond opinion: the behavioral effect of the media‟s agenda. A. Some findings suggest that media priorities affect people‟s behavior. B. Nowhere is the behavioral effect of the media agenda more apparent than in the business of professional sports. C. McCombs claims “Agenda setting the theory can also be agenda setting the business plan.” D. Will new media continue to guide focus, opinions, and behavior? 1. The power of agenda setting that McCombs and Shaw describe may be on the wane. 2. The media may not have as much power to transfer the salience of issues or attributes as it does now as a result of users‟ expanded content choices and control over exposure. Ethical reflections: Christians‟ communitarian ethics A. Christians believes that discovering the truth is still possible if we are willing to examine the nature of our humanity. B. Mutuality is the essence of humanness. C. His communitarian ethics establish civic transformation rather than objective information as the primary goal of the press. D. He insists that media criticism must be willing to reestablish the idea of moral right and wrong. E. Journalists have a social responsibility to promote the sacredness of life. Critique: are the effects too limited, the scope too wide? A. McCombs has considered agenda setting a theory of limited media effects. B. Framing reopens the possibility of a powerful effects model. C. Gerald Kosicki questions whether framing is relevant to agenda-setting research. 1. McCombs‟ restricted definition of framing doesn‟t address the mood of emotional connotations of a media story or presentational factors. 2. Although it has a straightforward definition within agenda-setting theory, the popularity of framing as a construct in media studies has led to diverse and perhaps contradictory uses of the term. D. Agenda-setting research shows that print and broadcast news prioritize issues. E. Agenda-setting theory reminds us that the news is stories that require interpretation.

Spiral of Silence (Chapter 29) I.

Introduction.

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Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann claims that people‟s assessment of the political climate and forecast of future trends are early, reliable indicators of what will happen in an election. B. Noelle-Neumann‟s spiral of silence explains the growth and spread of public opinion, which is a powerful force. C. She defines public opinion as “attitudes one can express in public without isolating oneself.” D. The spiral of silence refers to the increasing pressure people feel to conceal their views when they think they are in the minority. A quasi-statistical organ sensing the climate of opinion. A. Noelle-Neumann emphasizes the human ability to discern the climate of public opinion accurately. B. When swings in opinion occur, they are sensed everywhere at the same time. C. She believes that assessing the present or future public mood is a natural human activity. D. Judging public opinion is exhausting, but the information allows one to avoid the greater strain of becoming isolated with an unpopular opinion. Fear of isolation: the engine that drives the spiral of silence A. Fear of isolation is the centrifugal force that accelerates the spiral of silence. 1. Noelle-Neumann draws heavily on Solomon Asch‟s work. 2. Asch found that most people would conform to a group opinion to avoid isolation. 3. Stanley Milgram demonstrated cross-cultural support for Asch‟s work. B. Noelle-Neumann rejects the hypothesis that people conform out of a desire to identify with a winner. C. Only criminals or moral heroes disregard what society thinks. The powerful role of the mass media. A. Noelle-Neumann believes that the media accelerate the muting of the minority in the spiral of silence. B. She argues that pluralistic ignorance, a condition when people have a mistaken idea of what the public opinion‟s really is, results from the media giving a disproportionate mix of viewpoints relative to their actual strength in society. C. Television is particularly influential because of its omni-presence, its single point of view, and the constant repetition of its message. D. Noelle-Neumann has never found a spiral of silence that went against the tenor of the media. E. She shares Stuart Hall‟s negative assessment of the media‟s intrusive role in democratic decision-making. F. The media do more than set the agenda; they provide the sanctioned view of what everyone else is thinking. G. The media‟s primary influence renders media access crucial for those who desire to shape public opinion. A time to speak and a time to keep silent. A. Once people realize that they hold the minority opinion, they don‟t necessarily change their minds, but they keep quiet. A.

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The train/plane test has been developed to determine whether people are willing to speak out in support of their viewpoint. 1. Those who favor the majority position will be more willing to express their views than those who belong to the minority faction. 2. Future trends are more salient than the present climate. 3. People are more willing to speak to those who agree with them. 4. Low self-esteem will cause a person to remain mute. 5. Males, young adults, and people of the middle and upper classes are more likely to speak out. 6. Existing laws encourage people to express minority opinions. The accelerating spiral of silence. A. Fear of isolation catches those in the minority in a spiral of silence. 1. People sense a slight discrepancy between their position and prevailing public opinion. 2. Minority opinion holders begin to withdraw from sharing their opinion. 3. They sense a widening gap and draw back from public scrutiny. B. The spiral becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The hard core and avant-garde: holdouts who can change the world. A. Early critics pointed out that there are people who will never be silenced B. Noelle-Neumann now describes two types of individuals who form a vocal minority that remains at the top of the spiral in defiance of threats of isolation: the hard core and the avant-garde. 1. Hard core nonconformists are those who have been overpowered and relegated to a completely defensive position in public. a. They have nothing to lose by speaking out. b. They cling to the past and regard isolation as the price to pay 2. The avant-garde forms the vanguard of new ideas. a. They seek public response, even though it may be negative. b. Their conviction is ahead of the times. 3. The reality of the hard-core and avant-garde minorities are acknowledged by Noelle-Neumann, but not predicted by her spiral of silence. C. Serge Moscovici does not believe she adequately considers the pervasive impact of committed deviants on public opinion. Critique. A. Although he does not entirely accept it, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi regards the spiral of silence as "the most original, comprehensive, and useful" theory of public opinion ever proposed. B. Critics question the assumption that fear of isolation is the cause of people‟s silence. C. The theory relies on the hypothetical train/plane test to measure willingness to speak rather than use the observation of actual behavior. D. While the spiral of silence focuses on national climate of public opinion, other studies have indicated that the opinion of one‟s own reference group or microclimate of family and friends is most closely linked to one‟s willingness to speak out.

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A recent study by Dietram Scheufele suggests that the spiral of silence is alive and well in the twenty-first century.

Cultural Context: Intercultural Communication Communication Accommodation Theory (Chapter 30) I.

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Introduction. A. Giles claimed that when two people from different ethnic or cultural groups interact, they tend to accommodate each other in the way they speak in order to gain the other‟s approval. B. He focused on nonverbal adjustments. C. Speech accommodation is a frequently used strategy to gain the appreciation of people who are different from us. A simple notion becomes a comprehensive theory A. The scope expanded to answer relevant questions raised by the theory. B. Communication accommodation theory is a theory of intercultural communication that actually attends to communication. C. One emphasis in the last two decades has been intergenerational communication between those less than 65 and folks past 65. Communication accommodation strategies A. Giles contrasts convergence and divergence, two strategic forms of communication used to interact with diverse others. B. Convergence 1. Convergence is a strategy by which you adapt your communication behavior in such a way as to become more similar to the other person. 2. It is a form of audience adaption to reduce nonverbal differences. 3. Discourse management, another way of adapting, is the sensitive selection of topics to discuss. 4. Convergence includes meeting the emotional needs of another. C. Divergence 1. Divergence is a communication strategy of accentuating the differences between yourself and another. 2. Divergence could is counter-accommodation, direct ways of maximizing the differences between speakers. 3. Speakers may also persist in their original communication style regardless of the other person or overaccommodate, creating a feeling of patronization. Different motivations for convergence and divergence A. The theorists have always maintained that desire for approval was the main motivation for convergence B. But, this doesn‟t account for divergence nor for when speakers act as representatives of a group. C. Social identity theory 1. We often communicate not as individuals but as representatives of groups that define us.

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Communication may be used to reinforce and defend ties to reference groups. 3. Divergence is the result if communicators feel the need for distinctiveness. D. Initial orientation 1. Initial orientation is the predisposition a person has toward focusing on either individual identity or group identity. 2. Five factors impact the perception of a conversation as an intergroup encounter. a. Collective cultural context. b. Distressing history of interaction c. Stereotypes d. Norms or expectations for treatment e. High group solidarity and high group dependence E. No single factor determines a person‟s initial orientation, yet if five factors line up in the direction or public identity, they make it almost certain that a communicator will approach it as an intergroup encounter. Recipient evaluation of convergence and divergence A. Giles and his colleagues still believe that listeners regard convergence as positive and divergence as negative. B. Convergent speakers are evaluated as more competent, attractive, warm, and cooperative compared to divergent communicators who are seen as insulting, impolite, and hostile. C. What ultimately important is how the communicator is perceived 1. Objective versus subjective accommodation a. A disconnect may exist between what is actually happening and what a listener perceives is happening. b. Speakers who converge may also misperceive the other‟s style. 2. Attribution theory a. Heider and Kelley suggest that we attribute an internal disposition to the behavior we see another enact. b. Our default assumption is that people who do things like that are like that. c. Listeners‟ evaluation is based on ability, constraints, and effort. CAT‟s view of age-old stereotypes A. The theory claims that when people are constantly aware of each other‟s discrepant group ties, their style and content will diverge and inhibit closeness. B. Giles suggests listening, being supportive, and offering complements. Critique: Enormous scope at the cost of clarity A. CAT can be evaluated using the five criteria for good social science. B. CAT, which as been a joint effort of Giles and others, both describes and explains behavior. C. The theory has consistently predicted what will happen in specific situations. D. The structure and underlying terminology are not always represented consistently with even the meaning of “accommodation” slippery. E. Falsifiable it isn‟t as testing the whole theory is not possible.

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CAT can be beneficially applied to any situation where people from different groups or cultures come in contact.

Face Negotiation Theory (Chapter 31) V.

VI.

Predictable styles of conflict management. A. Based on the work of M. Afzalur Rahim, Ting-Toomey identified five distinct responses to situations in which there is an incompatibility of needs, interests, or goals. 1. Avoiding (withdrawal) 2. Obliging (giving in) 3. Compromising (negotiation) 4. integrating (problem solving) 5. Dominating (competing) B. Ting-Toomey and John Oetzel identified three additional styles based on more ethnically diverse samples. 1. Emotional expression 2. Passive aggression 3. Third-party help C. The styles vary according to their culture related face concern. D. They predicted that different cultures would favor different conflict management styles. 1. Collectivistic cultures would favor avoiding, obliging, compromising, third party, help and integrating. 2. Individualistic cultures would favor emotional expression, passive aggression, and dominating. E. Avoiding is now rated almost as high as obliging on concern for other person face. F. Third-party help is used differently by collectivistic cultures than by individualistic cultures. 1. In collectivistic cultures, parties voluntarily go to an admired person with whom they already have a relationship. 2. In individualistic cultures, parties go to an independent mediator. G. The model assumes that people from a given culture construe their self-image consistent with the collectivistic or individualistic nature of their society. H. Integrating, when adopted by collectivists, focuses on relational-level collaboration whereas individualists concentrate on solving the task and bringing closure. Application: competent intercultural facework. A. Ting-Toomey believes there are three requirements for effectively communicating across cultures. 1. Knowledge—one must be culturally sensitive. 2. Mindfulness—one must choose to seek multiple perspectives on the same event. 3. Interaction skill—one must be able to communicate appropriately, effectively, and adaptively in a given situation.

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Critique: passing the test with a good grade. A. Ting-Toomey and Oetzel are committed to objective social science research agenda that looks for measurable commonalities across cultures. B. Oetzel and Ting-Toomey tested the core of the theory in four nations using only the three primary conflict styles—dominating, integrating, and avoiding—with largely positive results. C. Results suggest that culture- self-construal- face-concern- conflict style was a better predictor path than culture- conflict style directly. D. Their results should be interpreted with caution, as it is they are based on selfreports that are often self-serving. E. Specific survey items may not tap into corresponding concepts as described in the theory.

Speech Codes Theory (Chapter 32) I.

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Introduction. A. Gerry Philipsen was influenced by linguist and anthropologist Dell Hymes. B. He spent three years analyzing the speech code of “Teamsterville.” C. A speech code is a system of socially constructed symbols and meanings, premises, and rules, pertaining to communicative conduct. D. He conducted a second multi-year study while teaching at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the University of Washington. 1. This study focused on the “Nacirema,” whose speech code is intelligible to, and practiced by, a majority of Americans. 2. The Nacirema speech code is epitomized by the speech of the Donahue show. E. Its characteristic feature is a preoccupation with metacommunication. F. Philipsen‟s ultimate goal was to develop a general theory that would capture the relationship between communication and culture. 1. To indicate that his theory has moved from description to explanation and prediction, he labels his work speech codes theory. 2. He has developed six general propositions. The distinctiveness of speech codes. A. Proposition 1: Wherever there is a distinctive culture, there is to be found a distinctive speech code. B. For those within the culture, speech codes have a taken-for-granted quality. The multiplicity of speech codes. 1. Proposition 2: In any given speech community, multiple speech codes are deployed. 2. People may be affected by other codes or employ more than one code. The substance of speech codes. . Proposition 3: A speech code involves a culturally distinct psychology, sociology, and rhetoric. A. Whatever the culture, the speech code reveals structures of self, society, and strategic action.

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Psychology: Every speech code thematizes the nature of individuals in a particular way. 2. Sociology: Every speech code provides a system of answers about what linkages between self and others can properly be sought, and what symbolic resources can properly and efficaciously be employed in seeking those linkages. 3. Rhetoric: Every speech code involves ways to discover truth and create persuasive appeals. The interpretation of speech codes. . Proposition 4: The significance of speaking depends on the speech codes used by speakers and listeners to create and interpret their communication. A. People in a culture decide what their prominent speech practices mean. The site of speech codes. . Proposition 5: The terms, rules, and premises of a speech code are inextricably woven into speaking itself. A. Highly structured cultural forms often display the cultural significance of symbols and meanings, premises, and rules that might not be accessible through normal conversation. 1. Social dramas are public confrontations in which one party invokes a moral rule to challenge the conduct of another. 2. Totemizing rituals involve careful performances of structured sequences of actions that pay homage to sacred objects. The force of speech codes in discussions. . Proposition 6: The artful use of a shared speech code is a sufficient condition for predicting, explaining, and controlling the form of discourse about the intelligibility, prudence, and morality of communication conduct. A. Proposition 6 suggests that by a thoughtful use of shared speech codes, participants can guide metacommunication. Performative ethnography. . Some researchers favor the concept of performing ethnography over doing ethnography. A. Performative ethnography is grounded in several theoretical principles. 1. Performance is both the subject and method of performance ethnography. a. All social interactions are performance because speech not only reflects but also alters the world. b. Metaperformance—actions participants recognize as symbolic— serve as reminders that performance defines and permeates life. 2. Researchers consider their work performative; they do not just observe performance but are co-performers. 3. Performance ethnographers are also concerned about performance when they report their fieldwork. a. They wish to create actable ethnographies. b. Through performances, ethnographers can recognize the limitations of, and uncover the cultural bias in his or her written work.

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B. Performance ethnography almost always takes place among marginalized groups. Critique: different speech codes in communication theory. . Most interpretive scholars applaud Philipsen‟s commitment to long-term participant observation. A. However, they criticize his efforts to generalize across cultures and his scientific goals of explanation, prediction, and control. B. Theorists from feminist, critical, or cultural studies perspectives charge that he is silent—even naïve—about power relationships. C. Empiricists wish that Philipsen backed his generalizations with more scientific rigor. 1. The Nacirema study raises a number of important methodological questions. 2. Philipsen needs more than two data sets—otherwise, his work suggests that there are only two cultural clusters.

Cultural Context: Gender and Communication Genderlect Styles (Chapter 33) I.

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III.

Introduction. A. Deborah Tannen argues that male-female communication is cross-cultural. B. Miscommunication between men and women is both common and insidious because the parties usually don‟t realize that the encounters are cross-cultural. C. Tannen‟s writing underscores the mutually alien nature of male and female conversation styles. D. Tannen‟s approach departs from much feminist scholarship that claims that conversations between men and women reflect male domination. 1. She assumes that male and female conversational styles are equally valid. 2. The term genderlect suggests that masculine and feminine styles of discourse are best viewed as two distinct cultural dialects rather than as inferior or superior ways of speaking. E. At the risk of reinforcing a reductive biological determinism, Tannen insists that there are gender differences in the ways we speak. Women‟s desire for connection versus men‟s desire for status. A. More than anything else, women seek human connection. B. Men are concerned mainly with status. C. Tannen does not believe that men and women seek only status and connection, respectively, but these are their primary goals. Rapport talk versus report talk. A. Public speaking versus private speaking. 1. Women talk more than men in private conversations. 2. In the public arena, men vie for ascendancy and speak much more than women.

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Men assume a lecture style to establish a “one-up” position, command attention, convey information, and insist on agreement. 4. Men‟s monologue style is appropriate for report, but not for rapport. B. Telling a story. 1. Men tell more stories and jokes than do women. 2. Telling jokes is a masculine way to negotiate status. 3. Men are the heroes in their own stories. 4. When women tell stories, they downplay themselves. C. Listening. 1. Women show attentiveness through verbal and nonverbal cues. 2. Men may avoid these cues to keep from appearing “one-down.” 3. A woman interrupts to show agreement, to give support, or to supply what she thinks the speaker will say (a cooperative overlap). 4. Men regard any interruption as a power move. D. Asking questions. 1. Men don‟t ask for help because it exposes their ignorance. 2. Women ask questions to establish a connection with others. 3. When women state their opinions, they often use tag questions to soften the sting of potential disagreement and to invite participation in open, friendly dialogue. E. Conflict. 1. Men usually initiate and are more comfortable with conflict. 2. To women, conflict is a threat to connection to be avoided at all costs. 3. Men are extremely wary about being told what to do. “Now you‟re beginning to understand.” A. Tannen believes that both men and women need to learn how to adopt the other‟s voice. B. However, she expresses only guarded hope that men and women will alter their linguistic styles. C. She has more confidence in the benefits of multicultural understanding between men and women. Ethical reflection: Gilligan‟s different voice A. Gilligan claims that women tend to think and speak in an ethical voice different from men. B. She believes men seek autonomy and think in terms of justice; women desire linkage and think in terms of care. C. Men‟s justice is impersonal; women‟s is contextual. D. Though more descriptive than prescriptive, the underlying assumption is that the way things are reflects the way things ought to be. E. Gilligan‟s theory suggests different ethics for different groups. Critique: Is Tannen soft on research and men? A. Tannen suggests we use the “aha factor”—a subjective standard of validity—to test her truth claims. B. Tannen‟s analysis of common misunderstandings between men and women has struck a chord with millions of readers and mental health care professionals. 3.

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Critics suggest that selective data may be the only way to support a reductionist claim that women are one way and men another. Tannen‟s intimacy/independence dichotomy echoes one of Baxter and Montgomery‟s tensions, but it suggests none of the ongoing complexity of human existence that relational dialectics describes. Tannen‟s assertions about male and female styles run the risk of becoming selffulfilling prophecy. Ken Burke, Nancy Burroughs-Denhart, and Glen McClish suggest that although Tannen claims both female and male styles are equally valid, many of her comments and examples tend to disparage masculine values. Julia Wood and Christopher Inman observe that the prevailing ideology of intimacy discounts the ways that men draw close to each other. Adrianne Kunkel and Brant Burleson challenge the different cultures perspective that is at the heart of Tannen‟s genderlect theory, citing their work on comforting as equally valuable to both sexes. Senta Troemel-Ploetz accuses Tannen of ignoring issues of male dominance, control, power, sexism, discrimination, sexual harassment, and verbal insults. You cannot omit issues of power from communication. 1. Men understand what women want but give it only when it suits them. 2. Tannen‟s theory should be tested to see if men who read her book talk more empathetically with their wives.

Standpoint Theory (Chapter 34) I.

II.

Introduction. A. A standpoint is a place from which to view the world that determines what we focus on as well as what is obscured from us. B. Sandra Harding and Julia Wood claim that the social groups to which we belong shape what we know and how we communicate. C. Standpoint theorists suggest that societal inequalities generate distinctive accounts of nature and social relationships. D. According to Harding, the perspective from the lives of the less powerful can provide a more objective view than the perspective from the lives of the more powerful. E. Wood has applied standpoint logic to the field of communication. F. For Wood, a feminist standpoint is achievement rather than automatically inherited. A feminist standpoint rooted in philosophy and literature. A. Georg Hegel‟s revealed that what people “know” depends upon which group they are in and that the powerful control received knowledge. B. Early feminist standpoint theorists were influenced by Marx and Engels‟ idea that the poor can be society‟s "ideal knowers." C. Standpoint theory is also influenced by symbolic interactionism, which suggests that gender is socially constructed, and by the postmodernism of theorists such as Jean-Francois Lyotard, which suggests a critique of male-centered epistemologies.

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However, standpoint theorists reject postmodernism‟s absolute relativism. Although Harding and Wood draw from these somewhat conflicting influences, their theory is held together by the central tenet that all scholarly inquiry should start from the lives of women and others who are marginalized. Women as a marginalized group. A. Standpoint theorists see important differences between men and women that affect their communication. 1. These differences are a result of cultural expectations and the treatment that each group receives from the other. 2. Culture is not experienced identically by all members of society because of inequities. 3. Women are underadvantaged; men are overadvantaged. B. Harding and Wood point out that women are not a monolithic group, and thus they do not all share the same standpoint. 1. Economic condition, race, and sexual orientation also contribute to a woman‟s position in society. 2. Yet Wood feels that a sense of solidarity is politically necessary if women are to effectively challenge male domination and gain full participation in public life. C. People at the top of the societal hierarchy have the power to define others. Knowledge from nowhere versus local knowledge. A. Standpoint theorists believe that those who define a field shape the picture of the world that emerges from that field. B. This view contrasts sharply with the claim that "truth" is value-free and accessible to any objective observer. C. Harding believes that each person can achieve only a partial view of reality from the perspective of his or her own position in the social hierarchy. D. She does not want to abandon the search for reality; she simply believes that the search should begin from the lives of those in the underclass. 1. Like all knowledge, the perspectives arising from the standpoint of women or any other minority are partial or situated knowledge. 2. However, standpoint theorists believe that the perspectives of subordinate groups are more complete and thus better than those of privileged groups in a society. Strong objectivity: less partial views from the standpoint of women. A. Harding emphasizes that it‟s the perspective generalized from women‟s lives that provides a preferred standpoint from which to begin research. 1. She calls this approach "strong objectivity." 2. By contrast, knowledge generated from the standpoint of dominant groups offers only "weak objectivity." B. Wood offers two reasons why the standpoints of women and other marginalized groups are less partial, distorted, and false than those of men in dominant positions. 1. Marginalized people have more motivation to understand the perspective of the powerful than vice versa. 2. Marginalized people have little reason to defend the status quo. D. E.

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Theory to practice: communication research based on women‟s lives. A. Wood‟s study of caregiving in the United States exemplifies research that starts from the lives of women. B. Woods suggest that a standpoint approach is practical to the extent that it generates an effective critique of unjust practices. The standpoint of black feminist thought. A. Patricia Collins claims that “intersecting oppressions” puts black women in a different marginalized place in society than either white women or black men. B. The different social location means that black women‟s way of knowing is different from Harding and Wood‟s standpoint epistemology. C. Four ways that black women validate knowledge. 1. Lived experience as a criterion of meaning 2. The use of dialogue in assessing knowledge claims. 3. The ethic of caring 4. The ethic of personal accountability. Ethical reflection: Benhabib‟s interactive universalism A. Seyla Benhabib maintains that a universal ethical standard is a viable possibility, one that values diversity of belief without thinking that every difference is ethically significant. B. She holds out the possibility that instead of reaching a consensus on how everyone should act, interacting individuals can align themselves with a common good. C. Benhabib insists that any panhuman ethic be achieved through interaction with collective concrete others rather than imposed on them by the rational elite. D. Interactive universalism would avoid privatizing women‟s experience. Critique: do standpoints on the margins give a less false view? A. Woods states that the concept of women as a single social group is politically useful, but this may not be an actual reality. B. As proponents become more and more specific about the standpoints from which particular women communicate, the concept of group solidarity at the heart standpoint theory becomes questionable. C. Some feminist scholars contend that Harding‟s version of standpoint theory underestimates the role of language, which is influenced by society and culture and which cannot be separated from standpoint. D. Other critics see the concept of strong objectivity as inherently contradictory, since it seems to appeal to universal standards of judgment. E. Wood acknowledges that it may be difficult to determine which social groups are more marginalized than others.

Muted Group Theory (Chapter 35) I.

Introduction. A. To Cheris Kramarae, language is a man-made construction. B. Women‟s words and thoughts are discounted in our society. C. When women try to overcome this inequity, the masculine control of communication places them at a disadvantage.

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D.

II.

III.

IV.

V.

Women are a muted group because man-made language aids in defining, depreciating, and excluding them. E. Kramarae began her research studying gender bias in cartoons. Muted groups: black holes in someone else‟s universe. A. Edwin Ardener first proposed that women are a muted group. B. He noted that many ethnographers claimed to have “cracked the code” of a culture without referencing female speech. C. He and Shirley Ardener discovered that mutedness is caused by the lack of power that besets any group of low status. D. He claimed that muted groups are “black holes” because they are overlooked, muffled, and rendered invisible. E. Shirley Ardener argues that the key issue is whether people can say what they want to say when and where they want to say it, or must they re-encode their thoughts to make them understood in the public domain? F. Kramarae‟s extension of the Ardeners‟ initial concept explores why women are muted and how to free them. G. She argues that the public-private distinction in language exaggerates gender differences, poses separate sexual spheres of activity, and devalues private communication. The masculine power to name experience. A. Kramarae‟s basic assumption is that women perceive the world differently from men because of women‟s and men‟s different experiences and activities rooted in the division of labor. B. Kramarae argues that because of their political dominance, men‟s system of perception is dominant, impeding the free expression of women‟s alternative models of the world. C. Men‟s control of the dominant mode of expression has produced a vast stock of derogatory, gender-specific terms to refer to women‟s talking. D. There are also more words to describe sexually promiscuous women than men. E. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis suggests that muted women may come to doubt the validity of their experience and the legitimacy of their feelings. Men as the gatekeepers of communication. A. Kramarae believes that even if the public mode of expression contained a rich vocabulary to describe feminine experience, women would still be muted if their modes of expression were ignored or ridiculed. 1. The cultural establishment virtually excludes women‟s art, poetry, plays, film, and so forth. 2. Mainstream communication is “malestream” expression. B. Authors such as Virginia Woolf and Dorothy Smith have argued that women have not been given their rightful place in history. C. Kramarae cites the politics surrounding her change of name as an example of male control. The unfulfilled promise of the Internet. A. The Internet demonstrates men‟s gatekeeper role. B. Metaphors used to describe the Internet reveal why women are often unable to gain access to cyberspace or find the atmosphere of the Internet unappealing.

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C.

VI.

The Internet offers the potential for women to find community, but there are limits. D. Kramarae feels that, because the technology is interactive, cyberspace has the potential to be a humane space for women. Women‟s truth into men‟s talk: the problem of translation. 1. Kramarae believes that in order to participate in society, women must transform their own models in terms of the received male system of expression. 2. This translation process requires constant effort and leaves women wondering if they said it right. Speaking out in private: networking with women. . Kramarae believes that females are likely to find ways to express themselves outside the dominant public modes of expression used by males. A. She labels women‟s outlets the female “sub-version” that runs beneath the surface of male orthodoxy. B. She is convinced that males have more difficulty than females understanding what members of the other gender mean because they haven‟t made the effort. C. Dale Spender hypothesizes that men realize that listening to women would involve a renunciation of their privileged position. Speaking out in public: a feminist dictionary. . The ultimate goal of muted group theory is to change the man-made linguistic system that oppresses women. A. Such reform includes challenging sexist dictionaries. B. Kramarae and Paula Treichler compiled a feminist dictionary. Sexual harassment: coining a term to label experience. . The popularization of the term sexual harassment represents a great victory for feminist communication scholarship—encoding women‟s experience into the received language of society. A. Although unwanted sexual attention is not new, until recently it went unnamed. B. The battle over sexual harassment is as much a struggle over language as it is over sexual conduct. Critique: Do men mean to mute? . Kramarae‟s central contention that questions of power are central to all human relationships is supported by Watzlawick‟s interactional view and Baxter and Montgomery‟s dialectical perspective. A. Her perspective on men‟s motives is contested by scholars such as Tannen.

Integration: Integration Common Threads in Comm Theories (Chapter 36) I.

Introduction. A. This chapter seeks to integrate the material. B. Griffin indentifies 10 recurring principles that in one form or another appear in multiple theories. C. A thread must meet three principles. 1. It must be a significant feature in at least five different theories.

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II.

III.

IV.

2. It must span two different traditions. 3. It must apply to at least two communication contexts. D. Each thread has an exemplar theory followed by other theorists who employ the same key idea. E. Not all theorists within a given thread agree, this is compare-and-contrast integration. Motivation A. Communication is motivated by our basic social need for affiliation, achievement, and control as well as our strong desire to reduce our uncertainty and anxiety. B. Social exchange theory holds that relationships develop based upon the perceived benefits and costs of interactions C. Need for affiliation: Social penetration theory assumes a human need for affiliation and focuses on how that desire is met through self-disclosure. D. Need for achievement: Functional perspective on group decision making claims that groups must accomplish the requisite functions to reach a high-quality decision. Likewise, constructivism suggests that, to achieve success, a speaker must first set a goal. E. Need for control: Excessive need for control is central to critical theories. Both Deetz and Kramarae suggest that members of marginalized groups need to have greater voice. F. Need to reduce uncertainty: Uncertainty reduction theory suggests that the motive of most communication is to gain knowledge and create understanding. Agenda setting suggests that the media is most impactful on those who are most curious. G. Need to reduce anxiety: Burkes dramatism offers two ways of getting rid of guilty feelings. Festinger claimed that dissonance is an aversive drive. H. Cause for pause: If we are driven by these forces, are we incredibly selfish and do we have any responsibility or free will? Self-image A. Communication affects and is affected by our sense of identity, which is strongly shaped within the context of our culture. B. Symbolic interactionism claims that our concept of self is formed through communication. C. In CMM, Pearce and Cronen see communication as jointly creating and managing meaning. D. In face negotiation theory, face is defined as our public self-image. E. Communication accommodation theory posits that when group memberships matter, people will diverge. F. Philipsen found this to be the case in his two studied cultures. G. Cause for pause: humans naturally commit a fundamental attribution error by being less stringent on themselves and more judgmental of others. Credibility A. Our verbal and nonverbal messages are validated or discounted by othersperception of our competence and character. B. Aristotle used the term ethical proof to describe the credibility of a speaker that increases the probability of a speech being persuasive.

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C. D.

V.

VI.

Burkes dramatism suggests that persuasion hinges on audience identification. Social information processing theory argues that in CMC, people can overestimate their similarities because of limited initial information. E. For expectancy violation, communicator reward valence is a key to predicting the effect of a violation. F. Social judgment theory claims that wide latitude of acceptance among listeners increases the possibility of significant attitude change. G. Elaboration likelihood also claims that credibility facilitates persuasion. H. Standpoint suggests that marginalized members may have low credibility but a less false view of reality. I. Cause for pause: Credibility may cause use to loose sight of the intrinsic value of whats being said. Expectation A. What we expect to hear or see will affect our perception, interpretation, and response during an interaction. B. Burgoons expectancy violation theory suggests that our expectations are shaped by a variety of factors. C. Social exchange theory suggests that we forecast relational outcomes to evaluate satisfaction. D. Expectation is part of the self-fulfilling prophesy of Meads symbolic interactionism, Bergers motivation to reduce uncertainty, and Walthers hyperpersonal perspective on CMC. E. Cultivation theory maintains that media creates an expectation of violence. F. Noelle-Neumann believes that people are effortful about predicting the direction of public opinion change. G. Face-negotiation articulates the expectations of cultural contexts. H. Cause for pause: Expectations are interpretations of experiences that seem likely to happen. Audience adaption A. By mindfully creating a person-centered message specific to the situation, we increase the possibility of achieving our communication goals. B. Person-centered communication in Delias constructivism epitomizes the adaptation to an audience of one. C. Berger describes how communicators construct plans to reach their goals, taking in to account the other. D. Social judgment theory suggests influencers are most effective if they first figure out the others latitude of acceptance and craft their message accordingly. E. In expectancy violation theory, perception of the violation by the other person is key. You need to know what they expect. F. Aristotle recommended using the enthymeme when the audience already agrees with the major or minor premise. G. Ting-Toomey stresses mindfulness. H. Giles states that people seek approval and will adapt their style to match the other. I. Cause for pause: Too much adaptation may mean we lose the authenticity of our message or the integrity of our own beliefs.

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VII.

Social construction A. Persons-in-conversation co-construct their own social realities and are simultaneously shaped by the worlds they create. B. CMM directly embodies this thread. C. Deetz argues against the traditional ideas of communication as the transmission of information. D. Meads symbolic interaction describes how the self is formed through interaction. E. Baxter sees communication as constitutive. F. Watzlawick sees every family as operating by its own self-constructed rules. G. Poole believes that people in groups create the group they act in. H. Gerbner describes how media consumption shapes our creation of the mean and scary world. I. McLuhan claimed that technology shapes our world. J. Cause for pause: Is there a foundational reality that language can describe, however poorly?

VIII.

Shared meaning A. Our communication is successful to the extent that we share a common interpretation of the signs we use. B. Geetz and Pacanowsky describe culture as webs of significance, or systems of shared meaning. C. A speech code for Philipsen is a historically enacted, socially constructed system of meanings. D. Mead noted that humans act towards others on the basis of the meanings they assign to those people. E. Pearce and Cronen insist the meaning is socially constructed and in need of constant management. F. Deetz asked, Whose meanings are in people? G. Hall levels the same charge against those who control the media, calling the practice hegemony. H. Barthes described how this works. I. Cause for pause: Shared interpretation is an accomplishment of the audience rather than the clarity of the message. Narrative A. We respond favorably to stories and dramatic imagery with which we can identify. B. According to Fisher, almost all communication is story that we judge by its narrative coherence and fidelity. C. Burke saw all of life as drama. D. Pearce and Cronen claim that the stories we tell are a way of managing meaning. E. Gerber said that television is dominant because it tells story most of the time. F. Bormann predicted that groups become more cohesive when members latch on to the creative and imaginative interpretations of events. G. Geetz and Pacanowsky regard stories as ways of socializing new employees. H. Tannen sees disparity between men and women in how they tell stories.

IX.

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I.

Cause for pause: There are bad stories that can effectively lead people astray or destroy others. Conflict A. Unjust communication stifles needed conflict; healthy communication can make conflict productive. B. Deetz believes that organizations would be well served by more conflict rather than less. C. Hall sees the same corporate control of communication in the way the mass media interprets current events; disputes are discussed by framed to protect those in power. D. Watzlawick describes a double bind where the more powerful person insists that the less powerful person act as if the relationship was symmetrical. E. Kramarae claims that marginalized groups are kept there by those in power. F. CMM offers a model of communication that doesnt minimize differences yet consciously seeks to move away from power-play politics. G. A variation of standpoint theory suggests that those who refuse to join into a discussion they disagree with are cheating. H. Baxter and Montgomery believe that two voices are the minimum for life. I. Cause for pause: Culture considers must be made. Dialogue A. Dialogue is transparent conversation that often creates unanticipated relational outcomes due to partiesprofound respect for disparate voices. B. Baxter stresses that dialogue doesnt bring a resolution to the contradictions that parties experience in close relationships yet it provides assurance that living within tensions can be exhilarating. C. Pearce and Cronen think we can experience dialogue if we seek it and prepare for it. D. Carl Rogers was even more confident that dialogue is within reach. E. According to Altman and Taylor, the vulnerability of self-disclosure is the way close relationships develop. F. According to Tannen, openness is more characteristic of women than men. G. For Kramarae, marginalized group members develop back-channel routes to openly share experiences. H. Habermas imagines an ideal speech situation where people are free to speak their minds with fear of constraint, a sentiment echoed in Deetz, Hirokawa and Gouran, and Pearce. I. Cause for pause: Dialogue is hard to describe and even more difficult to achieve.

X.

XI.

Theories and Authors Interpersonal Communication: Interpersonal Messages 1. 2. 3. 4.

Attribution Theory of Heider & Kelly (2 *) Interpersonal Deception Theory of Buller & Burgoon (6) Action Assembly Theory of Greene (1) General Semantics of Korzybski (1)

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5. 6. 7. 8.

Hierarchy of Needs of Maslow (2) Information Theory of Shannon & Weaver (3 *) Meaning of Meaning of Richards (3 *) Mediational Theory of Meaning of Osgood (1)

Interpersonal Communication: Relationship Development 1. Existential Theory of Rogers (1 *) 2. FIRO Theory of Schutz (1) Interpersonal Communication: Relationship Maintenance 1. Social Exchange Theory of Thibaut & Kelley (2 *) Group and Public Communication: Group Decision Making 1. Groupthink of Janis (3) 2. Interact System Model of Decision Emergence of Fisher (2) Group and Public Communication: Organizational Communication 1. Information Systems Approach to Organizations of Weick (6) Mass Communication: Media Effects 1. The Media Equation of Reeves & Nass (5) 2. Social Learning Theory-Social Cognition Theory of Bandura (2) Cultural Context: Intercultural Communication 1. Anxiety-Uncertainty Management Theory of Gudykunst (6 *) 2. Proxemic Theory of Hall (1) Cultural Context: Gender and Communication 1. Different Voice of Gilligan (1 *)

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